Has the CJEU Made the First Step to Put a Stop to the Criminalisation of Migration? Commentary to the Judgement in the Case of JZ in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The paper presents a critical discussion of the CJEU judgment in the JZ case (C 806/18), in which the Court interpreted Article 11 of Directive 2008/115 that regulates entry ban issuance. The author asks a question of whether an entry ban as a measure limiting the right to free movement has a moral and legal ground in international law and EU law. Moreover, the author focuses on the problem of the criminalisation of irregular migration – both in the context of the established line of the Court's case law and in the case of a vague national law standard that penalizes illegal stays – the possibility to apply the criminal law concept of error in law and thus exclusion of criminal liability of an illegal migrant. ; anna.kosinska1@usz.edu.pl ; Anna Magdalena Kosińska is an Associated Professor at the University of Szczecin, Poland. ; University of Szczecin, Poland ; Ad Hoc Query on 2020.81 Umbrella Inform – Covid-19 and Return – Part 2 (REG Practitioners and NCPs). Requested by COM on 21 December 2020. ; Bosworth M., Human Rights and Immigration Detention in the United Kingdom, (in:) M.B. Dembour, T. Kelly (eds.), Are Human Rights for Migrants? Critical Reflections on the Status of Irregular Migrants in Europe and the United States, London 2011. ; Carens J.H., The Ethics of Immigration, New York 2013. ; Chetail V., International Migration Law, Oxford 2019. ; Chin G.J., Illegal Entry as Crime, Deportation as Punishment: Immigration Status and the Criminal Process, "UCLA Law Review" 2011, https://www.uclalawreview.org/illegal-entry-as-crime-deportation-as-punishment-immigration-status-and-the-crim[inal-process/. ; Crosby A., The Political Potential of the Return Directive, "Laws" 2014, no. 3. ; di Molfetta E., Brouwer J., Unravelling the 'Crimmigration Knot': Penal Subjectivities, Punishment and the Censure Machine, "Criminology & Criminal Justice" 2020, vol. 20, no 3. ; Eule T.G., Borrelli L.M., Lindberg A., Wyss A., Migrants Before the Law. Contested Migration Control in Europe, London and Basingstoke 2019. ; European Migration Network (EMN), The Effectiveness of Return in EU Member States. Synthesis Report for the EMN Focussed Study, 2017, https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/networks/european_migration_network/reports_en. ; Grant S., The Recognition of Migrants' Rights within the UN Human Rights System: the first 60 years, (in:) M.B. Dembour, T. Kelly (eds.), Are Human Rights for Migrants? Critical Reflections on the Status of Irregular Migrants in Europe and the United States, London 2011. ; Grey C., Justice and Authority in Immigration Law, Oxford and Portland, OR 2017. ; Kolankiewicz M., Sager M., Clandestine Migration Facilitation and Border Spectacle: Criminalisation, Solidarity, Contestations, "Mobilities" 2012, vol. 16, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17450101.2021.1888628. ; Koronawirus a więzienia. Skargi do RPO – na brak środków ochrony, nieprzestrzeganie zaleceń sanitarnych, dostęp do badań, https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/koronawirus-a-wiezienia-skargi-rpo-od-osadzonych-i-rodzin. ; Kox M., Boone M., The Pains of Being Unauthorized in the Netherlands, "Punishment & Society" 2020, vol. 22, no. 4. ; Miller D., Strangers in Our Midst, The Political Philosophy of Immigration, Cambridge, MA 2016. ; Motomura H., Immigration Outside the Law, New York 2014. ; Pahladsingh A., The Legal Requirements of the Entry Ban: The Role of National Courts and Dialogue with the Court of Justice of the European Union, (in:) M. Moraru, G. Cornelisse, Ph. De Bruycker (eds.), Law and the Judicial Dialogue on the Return of Irregular Migrants from the European Union, Oxford 2020. ; Sanchez G., Achilli L., Stranded: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Irregular Migration and Migrant Smuggling, "Policy Briefs" 2020, no. 20. ; Strąk M., Polityka Unii Europejskiej w zakresie powrotów. Aspekty prawne, Warsaw 2019. ; Stumpf J.P., The Process is the Punishment in Crimmigration Law, (in:) K. Franko Aas, M. Bosworth (eds.), The Borders of Punishment. Migration, Citizenship, and Social Exclusion, Oxford 2013. ; Szklanna A., Ochrona prawna cudzoziemca w wietle orzecznictwa Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka, Warsaw 2010. ; Tsoukala A., Turning Immigrants into Security Threats: A Multi – Faceted Process, (in:) G. Lazardis (ed.), Security, Insecurity and Migration in Europe, London 2016. ; Waasdorp J., Pahladsingh A., Expulsion or Imprisonment? Criminal Law Sanctions for Breaching an Entry Ban in the Light of Crimmigration Law, "Bergen Journal of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice" 2019, vol. 4, no 2. ; Weissbrodt D., Divine M., International human rights of migrant, (in:) B. Opekin, R. Perruchoud, J. Redpath-Cross (eds.), Foundations of International Migration Law, Cambridge 2012. ; Zedner L., Is the Criminal Law Only for Citizens? A Problem at the Borders of Punishment, (in:) K. Franko Aas, M. Bosworth (eds.), The Borders of Punishment. Migration, Citizenship, and Social Exclusion, Oxford 2013. ; 26 ; 6 ; 207 ; 224