Legal Pathways to Protection
Funded by the KCL Faculty Impact Development Fund, Legal Pathways to Protection is a collaboration between the MRG and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
This project has a twofold aim:
To highlight the importance of legal pathways as a policy solution (among others) in response to the so-called “refugee crisis”; legal pathways facilitate the protection of migrants’ safety and rights by preventing them from dying and/or being subjected to inhuman conditions en route on dangerous journeys.
To produce a set of policy recommendations for a comprehensive and integrated legal pathways framework
These aims are informed by two principles: firstly, protecting the fundamental rights of individuals and, secondly, solidarity and responsibility-sharing among states. Legal pathways to protection do exist and there are numerous examples where these have been successfully used to secure migrants’ safety and dignity, however, existing pathways have been applied restrictively, lack capacity, or have been ignored altogether. Hence, this project advocates for better use of existing pathways. In addition, it argues for an integrated approach combining a range of pathway options to ensure maximum effect, respond to the diverse needs of those displaced and enable adequate responses to the ever-changing migration landscape.