Regional study: management of the European Union external border and the impact on the human rights of migrants 2013, para. 47

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Paragraph text: At the outset, the Special Rapporteur recalls his doubt that detention is ever an effective deterrent for irregular migration, and that in order not to violate international human rights law, detention must be must be prescribed by law and necessary, reasonable and proportional to the objectives to be achieved. However, in the context of his country visits and his research, the Special Rapporteur has observed that, within the discourse of securitization of migration and border control, the systematic detention of irregular migrants has come to be viewed as a legitimate tool in the context of European Union migration management, despite the lack of any evidence that detention serves as a deterrent. Indeed, a notable increase in the use of immigration detention as a tool for European Union border control over the past 10 years corresponds to the development of European Union migration law in this area. In some senses, the harmonization of European Union law, and in particular the passing of the Return Directive, can be said to have institutionalized detention within the European Union as a viable tool in migration management.

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