On 16 September 2026, the Council of Europe’s Division on Migration and Refugees published a thematic paper on the ECtHR’s case-law concerning the entry and expulsion of non-nationals. Authored by Violeta Moreno-Lax and Vera Wriedt, the paper notes the risks of misinformation and disinformation around the Court’s case-law on migration, and seeks to provide a more accurate picture of that case-law.
The first part of the paper addresses entry. It covers the requirements for the ECHR’s applicability, especially regarding extraterritorial migration controls. It also engages with border procedures and their evidentiary requirements, as well as the prohibition of collective expulsion and its own-culpable-conduct exception. A dedicated chapter on detention and reception conditions examines obligations around procedural safeguards, the place and conditions of detention, confinement in border and transit zones, and vulnerable groups and individuals.
The second part of the paper engages with expulsion. It examines critical issues such as the evaluation of risks of ill-treatment faced by individuals subject to expulsion (and the prohibition of refoulement); deference to domestic risk assessments; and implications for family rights of expelled persons and their relatives. It also examines the reality of process-based review of expulsion decisions; the increasing margin of appreciation granted to States under Article 8 ECHR as a qualified right; and the high threshold that must be met by non-nationals contesting their expulsion on health grounds (concerning the loss of life-saving medical care in the event of expulsion).
The paper provides a detailed overview of the Court’s migration-related case-law. Each chapter also includes a comparative section, reviewing related international standards and the findings of international courts and UN treaty bodies. It concludes:
As the Council of Europe’s Secretary General stated: “The Convention system was not designed for easy moments”. The Convention was the first international treaty to give binding effect to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was adopted, after the Second World War, to guarantee the equal worth of the human person, to protect individuals against abuses of state power and the potential excesses of unchecked majority rule. The Court’s mandate, as the guarantor of the Convention, constitutes the core baseline. Within this system, preserving human rights for the benefit of everyone should remain the top priority.
