Tracing the normalisation and brutalisation of violence across Europe's shifting external borders
About
This research maps the forms and causes of border violence at the external edges of the European Union. Across our case studies, we document the actors, legal frameworks, and political processes that enable and sustain violence at Europe's borders.
Between 1993 and 2021 48.647 migrant deaths have been recorded at the borders of Europe
Most occurred in the Mediterranean
Many more, in the form of brutal pushbacks and rights violations, have been documented across the Balkans and other land borders.
With regard to the management of migrants, we are seeing a widening gap between the EU’s formal commitments to human rights and practices that violate them. These practices point to increasing disjunctures in the spatiality of state territory, control, law and rights.
Methodologies
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Test
Case Studies
Analyse the practices and interactions between actors directly engaged in perpetrating or contesting border violence in the selected border zones (migrants, border agents and NGOs).
Activities
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Test
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More informationTest Event
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Team
The Circumference of Violence project is led by Border Forensics and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The research team brings together legal scholars, spatial investigators, and civil society practitioners working across the case study regions.
Project Lead
Reseacher