On March 6, Prof. Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche presented preliminary research results from the MOEBIUS research project in a VCML guest lecture titled the ‘Fictions of non-entrée. From Borderisation to Exclusion’. The presentation provided a critical examination of the legal concept of ‘fictions of non-entrée’ in the newly reformed Common European Asylum System. In her research, she explores how these constructions enable the restriction of migrants’ rights through the creation of exception zones at the external borders of the European Union. These fictions, while not explicitly outlined in legal texts, are operationalized within border procedures, effectively distinguishing between physical entry and legal admission. Prof. Basilien-Gainche analyzed how such mechanisms circumvent international and European human rights obligations, undermining the rights of migrants and precluding their recognition as legal subjects. She further explored the consequences of ‘territory excision’, where migrants, regardless of their proximity to the territory, are excluded from normal legal processes and access to fundamental rights. This territorial excision entrenches a state of rightlessness, wherein migrants are subjected to arbitrary detention and procedural barriers to asylum. The following discussion also addressed the role of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights in safeguarding migrants’ rights, drawing parallels to U.S. policies and highlighting tensions between state sovereignty and fundamental rights in contemporary border governance.

Bio Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche