The Right to Leave Any Country Including Your Own in International Law

Abstract

The paper analyses the current state of the right to leave any country in International Law. Having provided a brief outline of the key instruments of International Law both at the general and at the regional levels responsible for the formal shaping of the right (I.) the analysis moves on to a brief outline of the history of the right predating the entry into force of the documents described in the first section (II.) The focus then shifts to the assessment of the key challenges emerging in the context of the practical operation of the right. The role played by passports in making the right under scrutiny usable in practice is addressed (III.) The piece then proceeds to provide a brief assessment of the essential components of the possible limitations of this right (IV.) and concludes with a brief outline of the main findings, essentially coming to ask the question whether the right to leave any country including your own is de facto guaranteed in International Law, coming to a mildly negative conclusion.

Keywords: liberty, right to leave, international law, migration, movement, immigration