Introduction

In order to deal with the growing number of migrants at their borders, many States have inaugurated or strengthened already existing practices of repression and deterrence to “stem” arrivals. These practices consist of criminalization and detention of irregular migrants, separation of family members, poor reception conditions, excessive prolongation of status determination, reduction of procedural safeguards, including not only expedited returns, but also fences, walls and, more and more, externalization of border controls. This chapter focuses on a case study, the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding of February 2017, which implements a new model of externalization, based on ‘pull-backs’ that is an evolution of the ‘push-backs’ practice repeatedly condemned by the ECtHR since the judgment handed down in the Hirsi case. It examines the Italy-Libya MoU within the broader scenario of European Union policies on extraterritorial border controls.