Missing Migrants: Identifying and Shaping Obligations for Protection

Every year, thousands of migrants go missing, leaving behind families, who suffer not knowing whether their loved ones are alive or not.

These human tragedies have been acknowledged and recognised by key international actors, such as in the 2018 UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

At the same time, the very term ‘missing migrants’ is not legally (or otherwise) defined and most broadly includes all migrants whose whereabouts remain unknown.

While international organisations (IOs) engage with the issue of ‘missing migrants’, they each conceptualise the phenomenon differently, focusing variously on only those migrants that are lost at sea, die unidentified, are secretly deprived of liberty, those who appear to have been trafficked, or disappear into the informal economy.Against this background, MIRO will identify the key facets of an umbrella concept of ‘missing migrant’ (a legally informed empirical concept), which will facilitate the identification of key legal obligations across various domains of international law.

This in turn will provide the basis for an analysis and critique of institutional practices.

The project’s main goal is to identify and interpret international legal obligations regarding ‘missing migrants’ and accordingly critique and shape the practices of the EU (including its externalization practices), its Member States and pertinent IOs.The project’s aims will be achieved through doctrinal legal research, semi-structured interviews, four study visits to IOs, and an expert workshop.

The project output will include two policy papers, two articles, one book chapter, conference presentations, and blog posts.The MIRO project will build on the applicant’s expertise on missing persons and enforced disappearances, who will pursue research into new fields, in particular migration and IO law.

The fellowship will be a continuation of her academic steps towards attaining an independent academic position and heading a research team.