The project started by constructing the legal mapping, followed by analysis of treaties and soft law. Next, I conducted a thorough case-law analysis, focusing in particular on the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and UN treaty bodies, in particular the Human Rights Committee, as those judicial and quasi-judicial bodies play a crucial role in specifying the normative content of rights and corresponding obligations. The analysis concerned the judgments and decisions relating to missing migrants, persons disappeared by state and non-state actors (such as terrorist organizations), migrant detention, deaths at sea, and border violence.
The project also aimed at examining practice of international organizations and to collect novel data on international organizations approach to missing migrants. This was achieved through several study visits to international organizations, interviews conducted with representatives from main organizations and one workshop, organized in November 2023 at the Hertie School in Berlin. The workshop brought together experts representing main international organizations, various UN bodies, as well as academics and representatives from civil society. It contributed to the research by shedding light on the analysed issues from different perspectives, as well as allowing for unique interactions between experts who would usually not cooperate on missing migrants.
The results of the project were legal mapping, collection on novel data on international organizations approach to missing migrants, five journal articles, a workshop and two policy papers. The fellow also gave overall academic presentations of the project, three times at the Hertie School’s Centre for Fundamental Rights, eight times at conferences and workshops. Furthermore, eight project outreach events were organized, addressing German and Polish general public, Berlin civil society, wider academic society, students and European Researchers’ Nights attendees. Due to the fellow’s involvement and outreach to media (both directly and via online platforms), project results were disseminated in one TV interview, two newspaper interviews, two radio interviews and two podcasts. As planned, the outreach and media communication were conducted in three languages: English, Polish and German.
