MOBILE – Mobility Law Open Lab with Professor Diego Acosta

Free Movement of People Regimes at Global Level. A New Normal?

Guest presenter: Dr Diego Acosta is a leading international expert on International, European and comparative Migration law and a Professor of European and Migration Law at the University of Bristol in the UK. He is also the International Strategic Lead at the Migration Mobilities Research Centre at the same University. His work discusses Migration law as a central aspect of globalisation and analyses various processes of inclusion and exclusion and their profound implications for the rule of law in Europe, South America and other regions. He is the author of more than 60 publications, and his latest monograph is The National versus the Foreigner in South America. 200 Years of Migration and Citizenship Law (Cambridge University Press, 2018). His new project analyses free movement of people regimes and has obtained external funding to map these regimes globally.

Dr Acosta is regularly invited to present his work at some of the most prestigious universities around the globe and has been visiting fellow at several institutions, including the University of New York (NYU), the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna, the Centre for Migration Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University, or the Centre for Fundamental Rights at Hertie School in Berlin. He has testified on migration law reform before Parliaments in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. He has provided consultancy for various governments, international organisations, law firms, political parties and NGOs in the USA, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. He has been interviewed by media outlets in the USA, UK, Spain, Russia, Denmark, Brazil or Ecuador.

Presentation: Free movement of people regimes (FMPRs) have become a standard mechanism to regulate migration and yet receive little academic, public, or policy attention. The 2018 Global Compact on Migration (GCM) emphasises the crucial role that FMPRs can play in ensuring safe, orderly, and regular migration. Therefore, it is urgent to advance a deeper understanding of their development, structure, personal and material scope, and geographic reach. This unique project presents the first-ever comprehensive global map of bilateral and multilateral FMPRs. We analyse the provisions in dozens of bilateral and multilateral regimes, comprising numerous legal instruments. These regimes open a mobility pathway allowing nationals of one country to move and settle in the territory of another state party. This project proves how during the last three decades – from 1 January 1992 until 1 January 2022 – the number of states adopting FMPRs has significantly increased. The growth of FMPR legal instruments has been exponential, and the rights granted have expanded. This confirms the centrality of incorporating FMPRs in any comprehensive study of international migration regulation and governance. 

Time: 20 June 2023 13:00-14:30

Place: MOBILE – 6B-2-22 Southern Campus

Online participation

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