Itamar Mann

A decade ago, after a peaceful revolution toppled the long-time Tunisian dictator Ben Ali, I was sitting in an orange grove outside of Athens, Greece.

Undocumented migrants were hiding there.

I came to interview them about human rights abuses they had suffered while entering Europe.

One of them, a Tunisian fellow in a leather jacket, explained...

democracy and a dignified life.

We who have crossed the Mediterranean want democracy and a dignified life.

What is the difference?

The migrant is a kind of revolutionary.

This idea stuck with me and informed my work as a lawyer and a scholar ever since.

As Middle Eastern revolutions turned into civil wars, the refugee crisis unfolded in the Mediterranean.

This exacerbated political pressures against asylum seekers.

Initially, the European Court of Human Rights

stand against border violence.

In 2012, the court decided that Italy cannot turn asylum seekers back from the Mediterranean dangerous Libyan territory without first hearing them.

The human rights community cheered.

I was not one of those who cheered.

In my scholarship, I predicted that this kind of decision could also generate bad results.

States determined to enforce their own borders would turn back asylum seekers even before they enter the supervision of their own courts.

I was regretfully correct.

In recent years, the Italians have relied on Libyan militias to do their dirty work.