Migration Courts

The French Asylum Court in Paris, with 68,000 cases and a 22% approval rate in 2021, is the busiest administrative jurisdiction in France. Professor Weill is co-leading a research project on these courts, in collaboration with sociologists, historians, and jurists, with support from the GIP (French Ministry of Justice and CNRS). As part of the project, students from the Justice Lab conduct ethnographic reports and observe court proceedings, with a focus on the interactions between judges, lawyers, interpreters, and the courtroom environment. Additionally, the research has a comparative aspect, examining asylum courts in Greece, with the ultimate objective of formulating institutional recommendations

Professor Sharon Weill Receives Grant to Study French Asylum Courts | The American University of Paris (aup.edu)

Observation Report Template https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DSLYz8Ocw-9jNiUdopMysz5YuRK9hSmi/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=103046520981747574329&rtpof=true&sd=true

IN COLLABORATION WITH INTERNATIONAL LAWYER OMER SHATZ

With the goal of strengthening the efforts of legal aid and human rights organizations, lawyers, academics, and other actors working to uphold the rights of refugees and migrants in Greece––and throughout Europe more broadly––the Justice Lab is exploring new avenues to seek justice for rights violations and share knowledge on what has and hasn't worked during previous cases. 

Prof Sharon Weill, Adv Jeanne Sulzer, and Gabriel Green met with lawyers and NGOs throughout Athens and Lesvos in June 2021.

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to meet with the Justice Lab representatives, including MSF Greece, HIAS Greece, the Greek Council for Refugees, Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid, Legal Center Lesvos, Refugee Legal Support Athens, ECCHR, Syria Justice and Accountability Centre, Refugee Support Aegean, Giota Massouridou, Eirini Vlachou, Dimitris Choulis, and others. 

We look forward to continuing our cooperation with these actors into the future.

Related Links:

• Documentary film on illegal push backs in Samos, Greece (Arte, June 2021)
• “Constructing Crisis at Europe's Borders”, MSF’s report on Greek ‘Hot spots’, June 2021
• HRW, Frontex Failing to Protect People at EU Borders Stronger Safeguards Vital as Border Agency Expands, June 2021
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57809909

From 2014 to date, EU migration policies allegedly killed by drowning more than 20,000 civilians in the Central Mediterranean. From 2016 to date, EU migration policies allegedly forcibly transferred and arbitrarily and indefinitely detained more than 50,000 survivors in Libyan camps. In partnership with the Master Program in Human rights at Sciences Po Paris, the NGO Front-Lex  and a private law firm contributing working pro-bono - the Justice Lab focuses on challenging these ongoing policies, pursuing accountability and providing remedy for the victims of these grave breaches of international law. We are doing so by litigating cases before international, regional and EU courts.

OBJECTIVES

1. Criminal cases to be submitted to the ICC and in EU Member States’ national jurisdictions, seeking to hold EU and Member States’ officials to account for alleged crimes against humanity committed pursuant to EU migration policies.
2. Civil cases to be submitted in EU and Member States’ national jurisdictions against European agencies and governments, seeking to terminate unlawful operations and provide remedy for damages the victims of EU migration policies incurred.

Read the Brief (PDF) submitted by lawyer Omer Shatz at the International Criminal Court

Read a Press Report by The Guardian.