Start Date
4-24-2018 11:00 AM
End Date
4-24-2018 11:30 AM
Disciplines
Migration
Description
The European Union (EU) has taken pride in its efforts to defend human rights, prioritizing them through treaties and emphasizing human rights as a requirement for third countries wishing to become EU members. The Lisbon Treaty’s conditions in Article 49 and principles in Article 6(1) highlight the necessity for the guarantee of democracy, rule of law and human rights. In addition, all EU member states have signed the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights. The European enlargement process integrated former Yugoslav countries Slovenia and Croatia, but there has been much concern that the European Union may be disregarding human rights violations towards migrants in the Balkans for the purpose of integration. Presently, the Balkan states with official EU candidate status are Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). There is a specific focus on Serbia and FYROM as they lead the main path of the Western Balkans route to the EU’s Schengen Area. Many human rights organizations have expressed discontent with these countries’ accession processes due to the belief that they have violated the rights of migrants wishing to enter the European Union. The EU identifies itself as a promoter and defender of human rights but should further consider the use of conditionality to influence candidate countries to improve the treatment of migrants in the future.
Conditionality Measures in the EU: On Human Rights Violations of Migrants in the Western Balkans
The European Union (EU) has taken pride in its efforts to defend human rights, prioritizing them through treaties and emphasizing human rights as a requirement for third countries wishing to become EU members. The Lisbon Treaty’s conditions in Article 49 and principles in Article 6(1) highlight the necessity for the guarantee of democracy, rule of law and human rights. In addition, all EU member states have signed the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights. The European enlargement process integrated former Yugoslav countries Slovenia and Croatia, but there has been much concern that the European Union may be disregarding human rights violations towards migrants in the Balkans for the purpose of integration. Presently, the Balkan states with official EU candidate status are Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). There is a specific focus on Serbia and FYROM as they lead the main path of the Western Balkans route to the EU’s Schengen Area. Many human rights organizations have expressed discontent with these countries’ accession processes due to the belief that they have violated the rights of migrants wishing to enter the European Union. The EU identifies itself as a promoter and defender of human rights but should further consider the use of conditionality to influence candidate countries to improve the treatment of migrants in the future.
