Since the publication of the second edition of this outstanding collection there has been a continued and rapid growth in the number international conventions, protocols, declarations and recommendations governing migration; and a transformation of the European Union’s the legislation on the subject. The present edition takes account of these developments.
Among the new instruments appearing in this edition are the EU’s Minimum Standards Directive, its Responsibility Directive and the Family Union Directive, the European Convention on Nationality, several Conclusions of the Executive Committee of the UNHCR and Protocol No 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Account has been taken of the entry into force of certain of the instruments which, at the time of the second edition, remained without legal effect. Chief among these is the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, which entered into force on 1 July 2003 and at the end of 2005 had 27 parties.
As in the second edition, the first four Parts deal respectively with general multilateral instruments, texts governing nationality and statelessness, general instruments on refugees and Council of Europe Instruments. Parts Five, Six, Seven and Eight, which are substantially composed of new measures, deal with aspects of EU law or policy, replacing the two parts devoted to this subject in the second edition, which in turn replaced a single chapter in the first edition.
This publication is not intended for scholars alone, but also for practitioners in migration law. The texts are of practical significance for those concerned with the administration of the laws affecting migration and for representatives of those affected by these laws.