LeaveHQ,
04/03/2016
 Two
million UK citizens working abroad could become illegal immigrants
overnight if Britain were to leave the European Union according to
remain fear mongers playing fast and loose with the facts . This is one
of the more flimsy and morally objectionable deceits given that it is
designed to disseminate anxiety amongst the expat community and in many
cases this myth is proliferated by people who should, and probably do,
know better.
The status of treaty rights acquired while a treaty is in force, when that treaty comes to an end, was dealt with in a 2013 Parliamentary briefing, and is covered in much more detail by UN lawyers. A clarification has even been issued via a House of Commons Library note, which stated:“Generally
speaking, withdrawing from a treaty releases the parties from any
future obligations to each other, but does not affect any rights or
obligations acquired under it before withdrawal.”
The (1969) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties is clear, in article 70.1.b it states that a termination of a treaty:
“Does
not affect any right, obligation or legal situation of the parties
created through the execution of the treaty prior to its termination.”
To
summarise, “acquired rights” – also known as “executed rights” or
“vested rights” – do continue to apply to individuals. So firm are they
embedded in the international order that they have acquired the status
of “customary law”, which means the principle does not need to be
anchored by any particularly treaty, but stands alone as a fundamental
principle of international law.
Thus, should it come to the UK
leaving the EU, those persons who currently live in other EU member
states, invoking the right to remain under the “freedom of movement” or
“freedom of establishment” provisions of the treaties, will be able to
retain that “acquired right”. There may be some details around the
margins that have to be settled which will make up part of secession
negotiations, in both informal talks that begin in the aftermath of a
vote to leave, and formal talks that begin after our Article 50
notification.
The issue is settled. Spreading fear amongst expats
is now the reserve of barrel scraping social media campaigners, with
even Europhile think tank British Influence conceding the lack of
credibility to this argument:
“General principles of EU law
concerning legitimacy and legal certainty as laid down in the Treaty of
Lisbon presuppose that the UK and the EU would be required, or at least
strongly recommended by civil servants, diplomats and government
lawyers, to agree on the protection of acquired rights…”
The
report concludes that it is likely a transitional agreement will be
achieved, but even if one did not materialise, or if the transitional
agreement had problematic “gaps”, acquired rights are covered my
international law:
“International law should be sufficient to
protect acquired rights. For example, under the Vienna Convention on the
Law of Treaties, while parties to a treaty can be released from future
obligations by withdrawing from the agreement, rights and obligations
acquired under the same treaty are not affected".
Stop lying to expats.
They have nothing to fear from Brexit.
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