ESTERNALIZZAZIONE DEI CONTROLLI ALLE FRONTIERE E CORTE EUROPEA DEI DIRITTI DELL’UOMO ALLA LUCE DELLA DECISIONE SUL CASO S.S. E ALTRI C. ITALIA

This article analyses a tragic case of rescue at sea that occurred a few months after
the conclusion of the Italy-Libya Memorandum of 2 February 2017. This agreement
provides for a new model of externalisation based on «pull-backs», which are an evolution
of «push-backs», i.e. the refoulement adopted by Italy in implementation of the previous
2009 agreement and which were condemned by the European Court of Human Rights in
the Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy judgment. In the case of pull-backs, however, we are faced
with a case of «refoulement by proxy». After examining the application lodged seven years
ago by the survivors of the dramatic rescue operation and critically analysing the decision of
inadmissibility on grounds of lack of jurisdiction adopted by the Strasbourg Court in May
2025, the author focuses on a possible alternative interpretation of the notion of jurisdiction
and on the implications of the position taken in the case of S.S. and others v. Italy at a
particularly difficult time for the protection of migrants’ rights.