Refugees’ Human Rights and the Duties of the EU

The aim of our chapter is to propose an ethical justification for why the EU has certain duties towards refugees and to assess the actual fulfilment of these duties in the current political situation. We will first describe the challenges for the EU in this respect, that is, the current practices and discourses in the EU that are contesting the human rights of protection seekers arriving in its member states. These include the treatment of asylum seekers at the borders as well as in the refugee camps and during the asylum procedures. To create a theoretical foundation for a critique of these practices and discourses, we will then refer to the concept of “The Right to have Rights” of every person and the corresponding duties of states towards non-nationals to fulfil this right. For this, we will start from the essay “We refugees” by Arendt (Menorah J 36:69–77 1943), in which she first establishes the concept, and explains its implications for political action according to Arendt. To further develop Arendt’s ideas, we will use the work of Robert E. Goodin (*1950) and differentiate dimensions, addressees, and bearers of such duties in the global perspective, particularly with reference to the notion of moral division of labour. To apply these ethical–political frames to the current situation, we will shortly discuss the framework of international law and the supranational institutional context of the EU. We will both recognise the potential of the EU as well as identify necessary implications and reforms for the EU politics from the perspective of its duties in protecting the human rights of refugees.