On 9 September, FRC member, Júlia Zomignani Barboza, presented her PhD research on undesirable but unreturnable migrants at the Migration Conference. During her presentation, Júlia explained that ‘undesirable but unreturnable’ is a special category of migrants that are considered undesirable in their country of residence because they are deemed to pose a threat to national security, either because of past criminal activities or involvement with armed or terrorist groups. At the same time, the country they are in is forbidden by international law to send them back to their country of origin, as they might be subjected to gross human rights violations there (thus, they are unreturnable). As a solution to this situation, Júlia is proposing that the migrants who fall under this category be granted a legal status to stay in their host country. Such status, however, could include limitations to their rights and freedoms, as long as these limitations represent the least amount of interference that is necessary and proportionate to mitigate the threat these migrants pose.
A short paper summarising Júlia’s main ideas will be published in the conference proceedings before the end of the year.