The Court did not allow such an extension
Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 10:50 am
On the specific issue of humanitarian visas, the reasoning of the Court is formally convincing and politically unsurprising. On the political side, after the encouraging Hirsi and Other v Italy judgment, the tendency in Strasbourg has not been particularly favorable in the area of migration (see for example the approach to immigration detention).
On the legal side, the facilitation of access to asylum phone number list procedures through embassies and/or consular representations remains a matter of state discretion and the attempt to place it within the framework of human rights law (in the form of an individual entitlement corresponding to a concrete obligation upon the state) was unsuccessful. If the Court were to follow the applicants’ arguments, this would have implied an extension of principles established in the previous judgments.
and managed to distinguish the case from previous cases involving embassies. It did not limit the triggering of human rights law obligations in the context of activities of embassies and consulates to nationals. In case of non-nationals, however, it explicitly imposed a requirement of ‘de facto control’ and ‘physical power’ over them, so that jurisdiction can be triggered. It remains to be contested how this requirement will operate in future cases. In this sense, if the reasoning of the Grand Chamber (see in particular the last sentence in para 118) is strictly followed, there might be a limited opening for a different approach.
On the legal side, the facilitation of access to asylum phone number list procedures through embassies and/or consular representations remains a matter of state discretion and the attempt to place it within the framework of human rights law (in the form of an individual entitlement corresponding to a concrete obligation upon the state) was unsuccessful. If the Court were to follow the applicants’ arguments, this would have implied an extension of principles established in the previous judgments.
and managed to distinguish the case from previous cases involving embassies. It did not limit the triggering of human rights law obligations in the context of activities of embassies and consulates to nationals. In case of non-nationals, however, it explicitly imposed a requirement of ‘de facto control’ and ‘physical power’ over them, so that jurisdiction can be triggered. It remains to be contested how this requirement will operate in future cases. In this sense, if the reasoning of the Grand Chamber (see in particular the last sentence in para 118) is strictly followed, there might be a limited opening for a different approach.