Upholding international migration law in difficult political circumstances: the case of Syrian refugees under the EU-Turkey agreement

Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria in March 2011, a huge number of refugees have risked and actually lost their lives in unseaworthy boats often operated by smugglers crossing the Aegean Sea in a desperate bid to reach Greece (Europe) via Turkey. This note provides insights into the main points of the March 2016 agreement between the EU and Turkey on this issue and discusses some key legal issues at stake in the context of the political situation within which the agreement has to function. The agreement is found to be a balancing act between 'international and European law in full', on the one hand, and 'pragmatics' on the other. This is so because reality requires us to accept that sometimes situations change so dramatically that the relevant legal systems are inadequate to deal with them, despite the good will of the regulators and the desire to live up to certain civilised standards. While in the eyes of some this is unforgivable, in our eyes it is partly forgivable subject to the conditions we propose here.