Sharing International Responsibility for Poor Migrants?

Abstract

This article analyses possible legal bases for the establishment of extra-territorial socio-economic human rights obligations on the part of wealthier European ‘Destination Countries' vis-à-vis poor migrants. In particular, it considers whether obligations of international cooperation and assistance under the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) might provide a basis for addressing socio-economic deprivation in Countries of Origin and lead to the provision of social assistance. The article also analyses the socio-economic case-law under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in respect of expulsion of migrants (e.g. MSS v Belgium and Greece, Sufi and Elmi v the UK, and SHH v the UK).

The analysis of these documents supports the claim that wealthy states can attract responsibilities for providing protection against living in poverty for persons in other countries. At the same time, although language and semantics relating to extra-territorial socio-economic protection are converging under the ICESCR and ECHR, there are a number of pertinent questions that remain in the sphere of concrete burden sharing. These relate primarily to the allocation to wealthy European states of concrete burdens of responsibility for the elimination/prevention of poverty in other countries and raise the question of how far the responsibility stretches.