Migration as Seen from the Perspective of a “third Country”: a Challenge for Global and Classical Constitutionalism

Abstract

With the rise in migratory movements, two key issues have become increasingly relevant: on the one hand, the protection of migrants’ rights and the regulation of migration processes by states; and on the other hand, questions concerning state sovereignty, national security, and internal socio-political tensions. Considering that there are currently around 102 million migrants worldwide - including refugees, (internally) displaced persons and asylum seekers, the relevance of this issue becomes evident. With the rise in global mobility over the past decade, foreigners in host countries have often become particularly vulnerable - legally, socio-economically, politically, culturally, and in other aspects. While there are individual academic works on this topic and intense scholarly debates are ongoing across Europe, the proposed article offers a new perspective on the issue - namely, from the viewpoint of so-called third countries. These are states that, based on intergovernmental agreements with the countries where asylum is sought (so-called destination countries) allow individuals to remain temporarily on their territory while their asylum claims are being processed in the destination country. By addressing this and other related issues, the present article offers a contribution to the scholarly debate on migration as a global challenge.

Keywords

• state sovereignty
• national security
• socio-political tensions
• third countries intergovernmental agreements