Associate Doctoral Candidate Aylin Koymali
Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV)
Compatibility of the non-refoulement principle with securing the EU's external borders
In this project, the forthcoming reform of the EU's Common Asylum System (CEAS) will be examined under international law by checking it against the Geneva Refugee Convention and regional refugee and human rights systems. The aim is to achieve a proportionate balance between the sovereignty interests in the European area and the human rights and refugee law concerns of the refugees in order to develop a own reform in accordance with international law. The focus is on examining a dynamic interpretation of the non-refoulement principle by the contracting states and/or the competent international courts and comparing its scope of application with the regional refugee regimes, in particular to the ECHR, the EU Qualification Directive, the Refugee Convention of the Organization of the African Union, the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, the Arab Convention on the Status of Refugees in Arab Countries and the Bangkok Principles. Furthermore, Article 3 ECHR will be analyzed, in particular if the scope of application could have developed dynamically from a prohibition of torture on national territory to a prohibition of expulsion as a result of the interpretation of the ECtHR. Exemplary, this will be sought for each possible dynamic interpretation in order to examine whether the will of the states was respected when the treaty was adopted or whether courts are arrogating to themselves the power to legislate and thus violating the principle of the separation of powers. Finally, the legal review is intended to make the EU aware of its own liability in the case of a breach of international law and to support the EU legislator in developing an own reform that fulfils the international requirements.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Pierre Thielbörger
About Aylin Koymali
- Since February 2024: Doctorate in the field of international refugee law under the supervision of Prof Dr Thielbörger at the Ruhr University Bochum; preliminary work since December 2023
- October 2017 - June 2023: Law studies at Ruhr-Universität Bochum; focus on „Internationale und europäische Wirtschaft“
- August 2014 - July 2017: Josef-Albers-Gymnasium Bottrop
- August 2008 - June 2014: August-Everding Realschule Bottrop; honoured as best of the year
The research interests of my dissertation project is the elaboration of the meaning of the nonrefoulement principle, the legal review of the CEAS reform with international law and the development of own standards for a reform in accordance with international law, which should serve as a recommendation to the Union legislator. In particular, international and regional refugee law is examined, specifically the Geneva Refugee Convention, the EU Qualification
Directive, the Refugee Convention of the Organization of the African Union, the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, the Arab Convention on the Status of Refugees in Arab Countries and the Bangkok Principles. Thereafter, the international and regional human rights systems, in particular the ICCPR and the Convention against Torture, ECHR, Banjul Charter, the American Convention on Human Rights, the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture and the Arab Charter on Human Rights.
I gained professional experience in the field of research while working as a research assistant at the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright in Düsseldorf.
I am currently preparing an article on the principle of well-fortified democracy within the EU to be published on the Völkerrechtsblog.
I have been a member of a working group on migration and diversity since January 2024. My social commitment also includes the International Humanitarian Law Clinic and the Refugee Law Clinic. This summer, I plan to take part in the Climb project in Bottrop, where I plan excursions for primary school children.
I wrote my “Seminararbeit” in the field of international refugee law in relation to Afghan women and girls in February 2023 and took part in the International Humanitarian Law Clinic from April to June, in which I completed a term paper on Iranian refugees after an intensive research phase. Since April, I have been a member of the Refugee Law Clinic, where I will be writing articles on a voluntary basis.