PhD project Felix Bockel is a PhD student with a research focus on human rights law. Interested in the interplay between law and politics, this doctoral project revolves around the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, The Court) and the concept of state sovereignty in the Court’s case law on pushbacks at the European borders.
This project revolves around the Court’s stance on pushbacks with a specific focus on the use of state sovereignty arguments throughout its case law. The ECtHR’s supranational position amongst the Council of Europe member states requires careful navigation through an everchanging political and legal landscape. Against this backdrop, I aim to investigate how the Court’s interpretation of relevant provisions of the Convention has developed. I am curious to investigate which weight is given to state concerns compared to human rights concerns in cases of pushbacks at the European borders.
My thesis approaches its material from two main angles: For one, it aims to provide a deeper understanding of interpretative trends of the ECtHR’s case law on pushbacks. To do so, it is meant to provide a systematic overview of the relevant case law, studying the tools the Court has developed to interpret and effectively apply the Convention.
It aims to investigate how the Court’s stance has developed and possibly adapted to the everchanging political context the Court finds itself in. My intention with this approach is to find out if there are observable changes regarding the deployment of the different interpretation doctrines to give leeway to state parties’ concerns in cases of alleged pushbacks.
Besides that, I am trying to ask a simple question: What does state sovereignty mean in these cases? When is it used and what does it refer to? In cases in which the Court shows a deferential stance towards state interests and arguments of state sovereignty, my thesis aims to provide a better understanding of how these state interests are balanced with human rights, and if state interests are being privileged over human rights considerations.
To do so, it aims to study the concept of state sovereignty by investigating how it is constructed and filled with meaning in legal arguments in cases of pushbacks. Combined, these approaches are meant to provide insights into the interplay between the political and legal sphere in cases of pushbacks and highlight the ways in which this interplay may affect human rights protection standards of refugees and asylum seekers.
