Thomas Spijkerboer

Thomas Spijkerboer is professor of Migration Law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Raoul Wallenberg professor of human rights and humanitarian law at Lund University. His work addresses the externalisation of European migration law and policy, and the coloniality of migration law.

Marathon Man and 'our European Way of Life'

The migration debate ignores the political question of why hundreds or thousands of underage and adult people are dying trying to reach Europe, while tens of thousands remain mired in inhumane camps.

By Thomas Spijkerboer

/ 27 Oct 2020

Marathon Man and 'our European Way of Life'

Crocodile tears over Aleppo

Preventing genocide is not always successful. But this time, by closing its borders, Europe has ensured that the necessary palliative care is also limited to the minimum.

By Thomas Spijkerboer

/ 18 Dec 2016

Spectral vessels

Powerful institutional agendas have acted to bolster the ‘ghost ship’ obsession. Such symbolism renders the specificities of Mediterranean migration opaque.

By Theodore Baird, Paolo Cuttitta and Thomas Spijkerboer

/ 17 Jan 2015

Spectral vessels

Powerful institutional agendas have acted to bolster the ‘ghost ship’ obsession. Such symbolism renders the specificities of Mediterranean migration opaque.

By Theodore Baird, Paolo Cuttitta and Thomas Spijkerboer

/ 17 Jan 2015