The book undertakes a throughout human rights assessment of the EU Returns Directive. The overarching human rights framework which circumscribes states’ prerogatives in the context of expulsion builds upon obligations derived from the principle of non-refoulement; the right to life, respect for family and private life, effective remedy, basic social rights; the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment; and protection against arbitrary detention and collective expulsion.
Based on the assessment of the Directive against this human rights framework, Izabella Majcher discusses several protection gaps in the Directive’s provisions which may result in violations of migrants’ rights and highlights how the Directive’s rules should be implemented to comply with member states’ human rights obligations. Informed by this assessment, the book discusses draft amendments to the Directive, proposed by the European Commission in September 2018.