EUROPEAN UNION SMART BORDERS: AN EXAMINATION OF ITS STRUCTURAL IMPACTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS VERSUS NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY NEEDS

Abstract

This paper provides a brief overview of Smart Borders (SB), a border check system originally proposed by the European Commission. Drawing on assessments from EU border security experts, it examines the functionality of the SB border check system, areas for reform and the imputed structural impacts on human rights that new innovations entail. Issues arising from the SB’s implementation and development are discussed and its systemic implications for human rights are identified. At the theoretical level, an implicit thesis emerges that a basic tension exists between balancing EU border security needs and challenges to nation state sovereignty, on one hand and fundamental human rights as expressed in the freedom of movement, on the other. Thus, the paper is intended to provide a content analysis of the newly introduced package of Smart Borders and it is considered to be stepping stone to further research into the modification and subsequent development of the Smart Borders program. As such, it offers up only a critique and broad suggestions for measures for further consideration