Deaths

The externalisation of European migration policies since 1990 has made it increasingly difficult for many people to reach European territory. As a result, people rely on irregular means of reaching European territory. Together with this externalisation, European policies combating such irregularised migration result in large scale loss of life. Because large scale border deaths are a foreseeable consequence of European policies, this raises human rights issues (The Human Costs of Border Control, 2007; Moving Migrants, States and Rights, 2013; Wasted Lives, 2017; Carrier Sanctions and the Conflicting Legal Obligations of Carriers, with Theodore Baird, 2019). My research was part of a wider project on border deaths (Border Deaths, ed Paolo Cuttitta and Tamara Last, 2021; Deaths at the borders database, 2017), which includes the dissertations of Tamara Last (2018) and Lisa-Marie Komp (2020).

Academic Publications

• De mondiale mobiliteitsinfrastructuur: de dubbele bodem van de neoliberale legaliteit (2020)
• Carrier Sanctions and the Conflicting Legal Obligations of Carriers: Addressing Human Rights Leakage (with Theodore Baird, 2019)
• The Global Mobility Infrastructure: Reconceptualising the Externalisation of Migration Control (2018)
• Statement by 29 international law academics on Italy seizing the rescue boat Open Arms (2018)
• Wasted Lives. Borders and the Right to Life of People Crossing Them (2017)
• Deaths at the borders database: evidence of deceased migrants’ bodies found along the southern external borders of the European Union (2017, with Tamara Last and 13 others)
• Fact Check: Did the EU-Turkey Deal Bring Down the Number of Migrants and of Border Deaths? (2016)
• Book review: Nicola Perugini & Neve Gordon: The Human Right to Dominate
• Deaths at the Borders: Evidence from the Southern External Borders of the EU (2016, with Tamara Last and Orcun Ulusoy)
• Research project 2013-2018: Border Policies and Sovereignty. Human rights and the right to life of irregular migrants
• Tracking Deaths in the Mediterranean (2014, with Tamara Last)
• On The Morality and Legality of Borders: Border Policies and Asylum Seekers (2013, with Tally Kritzman-Amir)
• Moving Migrants, States and Rights. Human Rights and Border Deaths (2013)
• Are European States Accountable for Border Deaths? (2013)
• The Human Costs of Border Control (2007)

Media publications

• High risk, high return: how Europe’s policies play into the hands of people-smugglers (2018)
• Turkije-deal kan nieuw ‘Srebrenica’ worden (2016)
• Meer doden en smokkel van mensen (met Tamara Last, 2015)
• Grensbewaking heeft illegale migratie aangejaagd (2015)
• Bedoelt u opvang of dumpen in de regio? (2015)
• Interview met Chris de Stoop in Knac (2015)
• Spectral Vessels (2015, with Theodore Baird and Paolo Cuttitta)
• Ze stikken, verdrinken en verbranden en wij halen achteloos de schouders op (2005)
• Interview Financieel Dagblad (2014)
• Counting. The Human Costs of Border Control (Documentary by Pieter Boeles, 2014)
• De zee wordt een onneembare grens (2014, met Theodore Baird)
• Sta toe dat vissers helpen na ‘Lampedusa’ (2013, met Paolo Cuttitta)
• Kijk niet weg als er lijken aanspoelen (2009)
• Ze stikken, verdrinken en verbranden en wij halen achteloos de schouders op (2005)

VU researchers working on related topics: Theodore Baird, Paolo Cuttitta, and Tamara Last.