The criminalisation of travel as a global paradigm of preventive (In)justice: Lessons from the EU response to ‘foreign terrorist fighters’

Abstract

This article aims to evaluate critically the evolution of the preventive paradigm of security law by focusing on the criminalisation and surveillance of mobility which has been labelled as ‘terrorist travel.’ The article will highlight the impact of the political imperative of tackling the phenomenon of ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ on the emergence of a global preventive paradigm of criminalisation of travel. The article will focus on the establishment of a preventive paradigm of criminalisation of travel in EU law, and its interactions with the global governance of counter-terrorism as renewed by the fight against ‘foreign terrorist fighters.’ The first part of the article will focus on the emergence of a multi-level paradigm of criminalisation of ‘terrorist travel’, while the second part will focus on the surveillance of travel through the collection, transfer and analysis of passenger name record (PNR) data. The article will cast light on the role of the political rhetoric on the fight against ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ in the evolution of this paradigm and highlight the challenges that this multi-faceted system of criminalisation and surveillance of travel pose for fundamental rights and the rule of law. A key challenge in this context is the extent to which the European Union is able to uphold its internal fundamental rights and rule of law safeguards in the evolution of a global paradigm of criminalisation of travel.