The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies has published International Migration Law (264 pages), by researcher Abdel Samad El-Abbasi. This pioneering volume addresses the issue of international migration as a central topic in both international law and domestic legislation, given the complexity of the situations facing migrants in all their diverse categories. Traditional immigration laws are no longer able to keep pace with this reality, especially given the emergence of human rights discourse and the strengthening of the status of individuals at the international level.
The author explains that international law is witnessing a rapid epistemological evolution that has lessened the pertinence of its traditional rules in the face of new phenomena such as human rights laws and international migration. State sovereignty has thus become constrained by binding human rights standards, giving rise to a trend that seeks to establish international migration law as an independent branch of legislation that transcends the classic division between citizens and non-citizens, providing a legal framework that can keep pace with the complexities of the contemporary phenomenon of migration.
El-Abbasi’s work stands out in the Arabic literature as a serious attempt to combine an accessible, educational presentation with comparative legal analysis, drawing on the latest international sources and deploying modern methodologies such as empirical, socio-legal, comparative, and inductive approaches – as well as using artificial intelligence tools to track concepts and their evolution. From this perspective, it departs from oft-repeated themes found in human rights books, striving instead to provide a comprehensive treatment of migration as a phenomenon that encompasses all categories of migrant, especially workers and their families, rather than the traditional focus on specific groups such as children, women, and people with disabilities.
The book’s research is laid out in three interconnected chapters. The first presents the underlying concepts of international migration law and its theoretical foundations, by tracing the development of those concepts from ancient civilization to the present day. As such, it aims to establish a solid knowledge base, supporting the argument that the area should be seen as an independent branch of law. The second chapter delves further into the sources of international migration law, focusing on bilateral agreements and on both written and customary laws at the international and regional levels. It also clarifies the scope of application of this body of law according to three elements: the persons involved (migrants); time (the duration of the migration process); and place (countries of origin, transit and destination). The third chapter presents the general legal principles that provide the framework of this law, such as those of equality and non-discrimination. This chapter also examines the principle of exceptions based on state sovereignty and the right of states to restrict migration, in addition to detailing the practical rights of migrants, which national legislation must incorporate in compliance with the provisions of international law.
The book concludes that there is an integrated legal system today that can be known as international migration law, with a theoretical and social foundation that legitimizes its existence, despite the difficulties of defining it, and the fragmented nature of its texts. This body of law did not emerge in a single moment, but is rather the product of a long process that saw it emerge from general international law, crystallize through the responsibility of states towards foreigners, and later become intertwined with human rights principles, emerging today an independent branch of law characterized by a dynamic and flexible nature that means it is capable of further development.
Since migration is a need shared by both origin and host countries, the rules of this body of law are likely to become more systematic and effective in the near future, meaning that study of this area is simultaneously an academic, legislative, and political necessity.
