The phenomena of globalisation, intense migration -both within and beyond state control- and development of international human rights protection have ignited the process of redefining the legal status of millions of persons not bearing the citizenship of the host State. This monograph examines the creation (or not) of a compact and functional framework of international protection of migrants either within the host state or the state of lawful or unlawful residence, aiming at the same time at deducing conclusions on the evolving form of the traditional clear distinction between national and alien in contemporary public international law. This study focuses on innovative readings on citizenship as a legal bond between the individual and the State, and intends to respond to the contemporary challenge of redefining fundamental notions of public international law, such as citizenship, the “foreign” element, and state sovereignty.

The main pillars of this topic are the legality (or not) of the unequal treatment on the basis of citizenship and the comparison with the legal status of nationals. The author, Doctorate of the Law School of the University of Athens, presents and critically analyses the rich material composing the contemporary practice -judicial, semi-judicial and legislative- of various international organs at a universal and a regional (mainly European) level, making some critical references to the relevant Greek legislation and practice. This effort contributes to the appropriate use of international and Greek literature on this topic and its various individual dimensions. This study gradually leads to a series of contemporary conclusions with regard to the consolidation of the legal status of migrants in public international law, the multiple dimensions of its collations with the status of nationals, the formation of distinct subcategories of aliens, the emergence of their residence as a de jure bond between the individual and the state, and the role that citizenship plays in the said context. This publication is accompanied by an Annex, containing a full catalogue of the primary sources and a practical alphabetical index of the most important terms of the text. The monograph’s preface is written by Linos-Alexander Sicilianos, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, and Professor at the Law School of the University of Athens. The publication responds systematically and in depth to the questions strongly posed by the theory of contemporary public international law. It is mainly addressed to jurists, lawyers and researchers of international human rights law of migrants, Judges and Lawyers practicing immigration law and working on the standards on the treatment of aliens, which are being progressively formed at an international level and call for their application at the domestic level of the host States.