Protecting the rights of irregular migrants in Europe

Organised by

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• MPC: Migration Policy Centre

There are large gaps between the rights of all individuals and workers as articulated in European human rights standards and the experiences of irregular migrants living and working across EU Member States. This seminar explores the causes of these protection gaps from legal, economic and political perspectives, and it discusses strategies for how they can be reduced. Two fundamental questions and challenges will be at the centre of the discussion: First, how and to what extent can the law be used to protect people who live and work outside the law ? Second, how can irregular migrants access and realise their fundamental rights in a meaningful way when their irregular residence status makes them liable to return measures? The discussion will draw on The Fundamental Rights of Irregular Migrant Workers in the EU. Understanding and reducing protection gaps (2022), a recent study prepared for the LIBE committee of the European Parliament.