ABSTRACT

The cross-border nature of the security issues covered by EU justice and home affairs (JHA), namely immigration and cross-border crime, has meant that the extension of such cooperation beyond the borders of the European Union to third countries and international organizations was a logical step in ensuring the effectiveness of enhanced internal cooperation. The Union cannot act alone to combat the international phenomena of illegal migration, terrorism, and organized crime. To ensure its internal security, it is imperative that it engage with other countries and regions to improve security globally. But while the European Union formally recognizes that there cannot be security in the absence of freedom and justice guaranteed by the rule of law, it is far from clear how it can guarantee that the problems of human rights violations in the countries it cooperates with do not undermine the Union’s avowed commitment to human rights within its own borders. The European Union is obliged to engage with the respect for human rights and the rule of law in the third countries it cooperates with, and this chapter outlines some of the particular human rights problems that arise out of cooperation in the fields of criminal justice and counter-terrorism.