Expulsion of aliens: The application of International Law by Chilean Superior Courts

Abstract

This article aims to evaluate the role of Chilean superior courts in protecting the rights of migrants by applying international norms. The methods used are inductive-deductive and analysis-synthesis. The jurisprudence analysis allows us to observe how the national judge incorporates international standards through different rules of interpretation and argumentation. While statistical analysis, to measure the frequency and trend of various variables. The sample contains cases of expelled aliens from the last ten years, finding that the courts expressly referred to treaties in their reasoning only in a ten per cent. The most used treaty has been the Convention on the Rights of the Child, followed by the American Convention on Human Rights. With their implementation, courts have found several parameters that are relevant to consider before to expel an alien. Then, the research contributes to emphasise the role of national courts in protecting the rights of migrants. Applying international norms directly or, at least, their parameters in an extensive interpretation to favour the realisation of human rights.