• “Apropos Legal Status: Civic Stratification, Differential Exclusion, and the Human Rights of Migrants” presentation at the international workshop Exploring the ‘Human’ of the European Court of Human Rights at the University of Zürich, 5/9/2024
• “Legal Status, Civic Stratification, and the Edge of the Human Rights of Migrants”, invited talk at the Count Kalergi Seminar, Democracy Institute, Central European University, Budapest, 21/10/2024
• “Human rights vs security: Refugees’ non-refoulement claims before the European Court of Human Rights”, lecture on the occasion of the Human Rights Day, South-West University, Blagoevgrad, 10/12/2024
• “Legal Status, Civic Stratification, and the Edge of the Human Rights of Migrants”, presentation at the workshop De-classifying Migration and Integration Research organized by the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, 16/1/2025
• “Why the ECtHR should adopt an animus-based approach to xenophobic discrimination”, presentation at the 15th Anniversary Symposium of Strasbourg Observers, Ghent University, 9/5/2025
• “Can the European Court of Human Rights respond to the issue of xenophobia?”, presentation at the international conference The New Idea for Europe – Historical Assessment and Perspectives for the Future, organized by the Law and History Faculty of South-West University, Blagoevgrad, 14/5/2025
• “Legal Status, Civic Stratification, and the Structural Limit of the Human Rights of Migrants”, presentation at the 6th international workshop on Sociological Inquiries into International Law, Utrecht University, 13/11/2025
• “Divide et impera: Legal categorisation and migrants’ rights under the ECHR”, presentation at the workshop Imposing Immutability or Change before the European Court of Human Rights at the Academy for European Human Rights Protection, University of Cologne, 21/11/2025
Workshop on “Perspectives on the Human Rights of Migrants in Europe”
The event was led by Assist. Prof. Dr. Moritz Baumgärtel – researcher in the project “Towards an Organisational Principle for Protecting the Rights of Vulnerable Migrants in Europe”, funded under the National Science Programme “Petar Beron and NIE”.
During the workshop, participants had the opportunity to engage in analytical discussions on real case studies related to European legal mechanisms for the protection of migrants. The Rector, Prof. Dr. Nikolay Marin, opened the forum and presented the main idea of the programme. He gave a brief overview of the results achieved to date in the project. He emphasised the importance of in-depth research on the rights of vulnerable migrants in the context of contemporary European challenges.
In his welcome address, the Rector encouraged the students present to participate actively in the discussion and to take advantage of the opportunity to meet an internationally recognised young scholar.
Dr. Baumgärtel presented an in-depth analysis of the reasons why protecting migrants’ rights in Europe remains a serious challenge. He pointed out that legislative frameworks at both national and European levels place migrants into different legal categories, creating a hierarchy of protection: some groups benefit from clearer legal safeguards, while others remain significantly more vulnerable.
The lecturer further highlighted the lack of a clearly conceptualised notion of xenophobia and xenophobic discrimination in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. This makes structural hostility towards migrants difficult to recognise at an institutional level and leads to an “asystemic” approach to migration-related cases. As an example, Dr. Baumgärtel referred to decisions concerning the Greek “hotspots”, where serious structural issues are addressed solely through individual complaints.
He also drew attention to the fact that European governments often restrict migrants’ rights on grounds of national security — a practice that remains widespread despite occasional criticism from the European Court.
Students from the programmes Law, International Relations, and Political Science actively participated in the discussion, raising questions about future directions in migration policy, the role of judicial institutions, and opportunities for more effective protection of vulnerable groups.