We are very honoured to announce that Juan Ruiz Ramos will be defending his Ph.D. thesis, titled “The freedom of movement of asylum-seekers within the host State under international and European human rights law” on the 14th of February at 11:45 at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam). Juan’s defence will be held publicly and can be attended in person (VU Auditorium, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam). A registration is not necessary.

Juan’s dissertation focuses on asylum-seekers in several European states who often face policies that restrict their movements to a specific part of the country, making them feel trapped or detained. The thesis explores how human rights law can address this issue by examining the right to free movement under international and European human rights law, as well as Spanish and German legal systems. Focusing on asylum-seekers, Juan considers four aspects: (1) the travaux préparatoires of the various instruments that enshrine this freedom; (2) the personal scope of the right according to legal doctrine and case law; (3) the material scope of the right, i.e. the distinction between a restriction on movement and a deprivation of liberty; and (4) the safeguards offered by this right.

Juan’s thesis contributes to the understanding of migration exceptionalism by comparing the protections for asylum-seekers with those for nationals. The thesis also explores the legal status of asylum-seekers and defines ‘detention’, which has potential implications for research on refugee and human rights law.

Supervisors:

• Lieneke Slingenberg
• Francisco Javier Roldan Barbero

For more information, please click here: https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/the-freedom-of-movement-of-asylum-seekers-within-the-host-state-u