Recognizing Insecurities of Family Members Abroad: Human Rights Balancing in European and Finnish Case Law

Abstract

The emerging literature on the difficulties of family reunification for people receiving international protection has pointed out the hardship and insecurity faced by family members left behind. This chapter investigates whether human rights law protects the interests of these family members outside the receiving country and how their difficulties are recognized in administrative and legal practice at both the international and national level. Though states are usually not responsible for protecting people outside their territory, extraterritorial human rights obligations do exist in some contexts. In this chapter, I explore theoretically how the general legal principle of extraterritoriality affects the adjudication of courts and how legal theory could be used to support the better protection of family members abroad. I analyse the relevant European Court of Human Rights case law as well as family reunification cases from the Helsinki Administrative Court and the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court. My analysis of the case law reveals that the insecurities of family members abroad are referred to by the courts and therefore legally relevant, but often fail to gain significant weight in the balancing of interests.