The Human Right to Leave Any Country: A Right to be Delivered

The right to leave a country is enshrined in both international human rights law and its European counterpart. It is a right which is independent and does not require the individual exercising it to show that he or she is admissible in some other country. It is exercisable even in the absence of evidence of possible admission to a destination country. However, in Europe (and some other parts of the world) some states are seeking to encourage their neighbours to interfere with people’s right to leave a country on the grounds that these European states fear that people want to come to their borders. This article examines the right to leave a state from the perspective of international and European human rights law and questions the legality of various efforts to make it dependent on a right of entry to another country.