Externalization

Since the 1980s, ‘externalization’ has emerged as a key component of State policies to prevent refugees and irregular migrants from arriving at their territory. Externalization may be used to describe a range of different measures – from involving airlines and other private companies in migration control, to international agreements shifting migration control and/or asylum processing from one State to another (offshore processing). The present chapter provides an overview of externalization policies, their evolution and key variants. It then turns to the key legal debates arising from this issue and the different inroads taken to legally challenge externalization measures at the national and international level. The chapter concludes by arguing that as current policies in this area continue to evolve, it may be necessary to rethink current legal strategies