Freedom of movement

Domestic law recognizes freedom of movement and residence as general principles. Departure and internal movement are nevertheless conditioned by restrictions, most commonly through documentation requirements and legally authorized travel bans. For non-citizens, including forcibly displaced and stateless persons, the practical ability to depart may depend on whether a suitable travel document can be issued under the applicable migration framework, while criminal procedure measures can also impose judicial travel bans irrespective of nationality.

Forcibly displaced persons’ internal mobility and choice of residence are more directly shaped by migration legislation. For international protection applicants, the legal framework allows the administration to impose residence and reporting obligations, including residence in a designated reception and accommodation facility, a specified place, or a specified province, and it regulates permissions to travel outside the province of registration with consequences for unauthorized travel. For certain international protection status holders, residence and reporting requirements may be imposed on public order or public security grounds, and the implementing rules regulate how provinces of residence are designated, how address registration and notification duties operate, and how requests to change province may be assessed. Temporary protection beneficiaries are likewise subject to obligations linked to residence in an assigned province or accommodation setting, address registration and change of address notification duties, and further compliance requirements, with legally defined consequences for breach.

Domestic law does not contain a single explicit prohibition of arbitrary displacement, or a standalone criminal offence labelled arbitrary displacement. Instead, safeguards are derived from general legality and proportionality requirements for interferences with movement and residence, and from indirect criminal provisions that may apply where displacement is achieved through coercive acts or, in exceptional contexts, through international crimes offences. Remedies exist in principle through general judicial review of administrative acts, complemented by specific migration law remedies for certain decisions such as removal and detention, while challenges remain where movement or residence restrictions are imposed through administrative measures without a tailored appeal track.