Author Archive

Charlie Goodlake

Charlie Goodlake is currently studying the LLM in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the University of Essex.

A concerning trend is emerging. Across Europe, countries are seizing the assets of refugees. A measure legitimised as a means to help pay back the costs of their stays. This reasoning is in stark contrast with the reality. It is happening in Denmark, where Parliament has voted for a law that allows the government to seize valuables such as jewellery and cash from arriving refugees. It is happening in Switzerland, where authorities have begun warning refugees that they will have to hand over property worth more than a 1000 Swiss francs. Even in some southern German states, assets worth more than 750 euros are being seized. This, in a country, which in 2015 opened its doors to over 1 million refugees. These policies are hard to rationalise. …

On the 9th of October the United Nations Security Council authorised under Chapter VII of the UN Charter that Member States use proportionate measures to search, seize and dispose of vessels that are “smuggling migrants and trafficking persons” across the Mediterranean Sea. Resolution 2240 was intended to authorise ‘Operation Sophia’, phase two of a three-phase joint security and defence naval operation of EUNAVFOR-Med. This is the latest in a series of EU-sponsored measures to stop organised criminal networks profiting from the plight of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants attempting to reach Europe through Libya. The responsibilities and powers enshrined in Chapter VII of the UN Charter are central to the UN Security Council’s ability to uphold …