Catch-22 in the law of responsibility of international organizations : systemic deficiencies in the EU responsibility paradigm for unlawful human rights conduct in integrated border management

EU policy in borders, asylum and migration shifted incrementally from a predominantly humanitarian-centric policy to an increasingly security-centric policy. This shift is evidenced by the EU’s Integrated Border Management (IBM), which has sparked widespread consternation on account of purported complicity by the EU in unlawful human rights conduct pursuant to its implementation. Yet, no legal responsibility has been established vis-à-vis the EU for such purported complicity. Mindful thereof, the doctoral dissertation addresses whether the EU as a subject of international law can – both in law and in practice - be held internationally responsible for human rights violations it has supposedly contributed to in the implementation of its IBM, or alternatively, whether systemic flaws in the international (human rights) responsibility paradigm allow the EU to sidestep such legal responsibility