Are Human Rights for Migrants?: Critical Reflections on the Status of Irregular Migrants in Europe and the United States

Description

Human rights seemingly offer universal protection. However, irregular migrants have, at best, only problematic access to human rights. Whether understood as an ethical injunction or legally codified norm, the promised protection of human rights seems to break down when it comes to the lived experience of irregular migrants. This book therefore asks three key questions of great practical and theoretical importance. First, what do we mean when we speak of human rights? Second, is the problematic access of irregular migrants to human rights protection an issue of implementation, or is it due to the inherent characteristics of the concept of human rights? Third, should we look beyond human rights for an effective source of protection? Written is an accessible style, with a range of socio-legal and doctrinal approaches, the chapters focus on the situation of the irregular migrant in Europe and the United States. Throughout the book, nuanced theoretical debates are put in the context of concrete case studies. The critical reflections it offers on the limitations and possibilities of human rights protections for irregular migrants will be invaluable for students, scholars and practitioners. Contents List of abbreviations List of contributors Acknowledgements 1 Introduction • Marie-Bénédicte Dembour and Tobias Kelly Part I: Taking it as a given: the affirmation of the optimist 2 The recognition of migrants’ rights within the UN human rights system: the first 60 years • Stefanie Grant 3 Irregular migration and frontier deaths: acknowledging a right to identity • Stefanie Grant Part II: Deliberating: the efforts of those who work out the system 4 The constitutional status of irregular migrants: testing the boundaries of human rights protection in Spain and the United States • Cristina M Rodríguez and Ruth Rubio-Marín 5 A new articulation of human rights, or why the European Court of Human Rights should think beyond Westphalian sovereignty • Galina Cornelisse Part III: Protesting: the outrage of the witness 6 The French Calaisis: transit zone or dead-end? • Marie-Bénédicte Dembour and Marie Martin 7 ‘Not our problem’: why the detention of irregular migrants is not considered a human rights issue in Malta • Daniela DeBono Part IV: Keeping one’s distance: the puzzlement of the sceptic 8 Human rights and immigration detention in the United Kingdom • Mary Bosworth 9 The legalization of human rights and the protection of torture survivors: asylum, evidence and disbelief • Tobias Kelly 10 Human rights within one state: dilemmas of personhood in liberal constitutional thought • Linda Bosniak 11 Afterword: the struggle for sans-papiers human rights • Upendra Baxi Index