The expanded notion of the non-refoulement guarantee under Human Rights law as a premise for a fully-fledged complementary protection

• Pages: 199-227
• Author: Marcello Di Filippo

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10.

e expanded notion

of the non-refoulement guarantee

under Human Rights law as a premise

for a fully-edged complementary protection

M D F*

Sumario: I. Introduction. – II. Protection from removal in International law: the non-

refoulement guarantee and the widening of its scope of application.–III. Non-removal

and its necessary corollary: the recognition of a protected status regulated by domestic

law.–IV. Conclusions.

ABSTRACT

International human rights law currently offers protection against removal in an increasing

variety of situations, thanks to the express content of certain international provisions or their

evolutionary interpretation. Where internationally regulated statuses are not applicable, it is the

domestic legal systems that have to deal with the legal position of the individual concerned. In

doing so, this chapter argue that a bona fide implementation of the obligation of non-removal (and

therefore of the duty to respect the essential legal goods protected by it) requires the fulfilment of

a further obligation, of a positive nature, consisting in granting the individual a lawful status that

allows the enjoyment of a dignified life. This would be an obligation of result. The ways in which

this outcome can be achieved can be different: they can range from the extension of a recognised

protected status to the introduction of domestic statuses, of a general or specific nature. What no

longer seems tenable is that compliance with the obligation not to remove exhausts its function in

* Full Professor of International Law, coordinator of Observatory on European Migration Law,

University of Pisa (IT).

This article has been elaborated within the framework of the R+D Project funded by the Spanish

Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, «Inmigración marítima, Seguridad y protección de valores

europeos en la región del Estrecho de Gibraltar», PID2020-114923RB-100, I.P. Dr. Miguel Acosta Sánchez.

M D F

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the mere tolerance of a person’s physical presence on national territory, and that any recognition

of a migration status is left entirely to the discretion of states.

Keywords : non-refoulement; international protection; complementary protection; human

rights; asylum; residence permit

RESUMEN

El derecho internacional de los derechos humanos ofrece actualmente protección contra

la devolución en una variedad cada vez mayor de situaciones, gracias al contenido expreso de

ciertas disposiciones internacionales o a su interpretación evolutiva. Cuando los estatutos

regulados internacionalmente no son aplicables, son los sistemas jurídicos nacionales los que

deben abordar la posición jurídica del individuo en cuestión. Para ello, este capítulo argumenta

que una implementación de buena fe de la obligación de no devolución (y, por lo tanto, del deber

de respetar los bienes jurídicos esenciales que esta protege) requiere el cumplimiento de una

obligación adicional, de carácter positivo, consistente en otorgar al individuo un estatuto legal

que le permita disfrutar de una vida digna. Esta sería una obligación de resultado. Las maneras

en que se puede lograr este resultado pueden ser diferentes: pueden ir desde la extensión de un

estatuto internacional reconocido hasta la introducción de estatutos nacionales, de carácter

general o específico. Lo que ya no parece sostenible es que el cumplimiento de la obligación de

no devolución agote su función en la mera tolerancia de la presencia física de una persona en

territorio nacional y que todo reconocimiento de un estatuto migratorio quede enteramente a la

discreción de los Estados.

Palabras clave: no-devolución; protección internacional; protección complementaria;

derechos humanos; asilo; permiso de residencia

I. INTRODUCTION

This chapter aims to give a contribution to the debate on the situation of the

person protected from a prospective removal according to the non-refoulement

guarantee: in particular, it focuses on the possibility to draw an additional obligation

for the host State to grant a formal status, regularizing her/his stay and allowing the

development of a dignified life.

In order to do so, this paper will first explore the relationship between established

forms of international protection and the scope of application of the guarantee

of non-refoulement deriving from international human rights law, with the aim

of highlighting the extent to which the scope of the latter has widened over time,

sometimes making the presence or absence of a persecuting agent in the country

of origin irrelevant (section II). This will allow for a critical analysis of the thesis

according to which it is within the state’s discretion to accompany the fulfilment of