re:constitution
2026/ 2027

Stefan Salomon

Mobilising state liability in EU law: the enforcement of migrants’ human rights through private law

A man with short dark hair standing in front of a bike, who is wearing a dark jacket and a dark purple scarf
(c) University of Amsterdam

Stefan Salomon is tenured Assistant Professor of European Law at the European Studies Department at the University of Amsterdam. He has over 15 years of experience in research on migration law, borders, citizenship, EU free movement law, territoriality and space, as well as strategic litigation at various universities and research institutions in and beyond Europe (University of Amsterdam, University of Graz, Hertie School of Governance, Humboldt University Berlin, University of Witwatersrand, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, among others). Stefan has provided legal advice and expertise to the European Parliament (LIBE Committee, the Green fraction), the German Bundestag, the Benelux Parliament, and various media outlets (Der Spiegel, Die Presse, NRC, ORF, Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others) on questions relating to migration law, human rights, EU constitutional law, and border controls. In addition to his academic work, Stefan is also involved in several high profile cases of strategic litigation before the Court of Justice and national courts. His research and litigation has been widely covered in media in various European countries (Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, Romania, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, among others).

Mobilising state liability in EU law: the enforcement of migrants’ human rights through private law

This project explores the role that strategic litigation plays—or can play—in the current political-legal context of rule of law backsliding in migration and asylum law in Europe. It enquires into the potential of using state liability in EU law (i.e. the liability of EU member states for non-contractual damage) as a tool to enforce fundamental rights of migrants in three different areas: push backs at external borders, extraction of asylum seekers’ mobile phone data, and internal border controls.