Asylum as Reparation: Refuge and Responsibility for the Harms of Displacement

Description

This book argues that states have a special obligation to offer asylum as a form of reparation to refugees for whose flight they are responsible. It shows the great relevance of reparative justice, and the importance of the causes of contemporary forced migration, for our understanding of states’ responsibilities to refugees. Part I explains how this view presents an alternative to the dominant humanitarian approach to asylum in political theory and some practice. Part II outlines the conditions under which asylum should act as a form of reparation, arguing that a state owes this form of asylum to refugees where it bears responsibility for the unjustified harms that they experience, and where asylum is the most fitting form of reparation available. Part III explores some of the ethical implications of this reparative approach to asylum for the workings of states’ asylum systems and the international politics of refugee protection.  Acknowledgements Praise for Asylum as Reparation Contents 1 Introduction Foregrounding the Causes of Forced Migration Military Intervention and Displacement Climate Change and Displacement Colonial Legacies and Displacement A Reparative Approach to Asylum Structure of the Argument References Part I Asylum as a Form of Reparation 2 Asylum and its Humanitarian Function Asylum’s Moral Functions Asylum’s Humanitarian Function Existing Understandings of Humanitarian Asylum A Revised Conception of Humanitarian Asylum References 3 Asylum’s Reparative Function The Principle of Reparation The Case for Viewing Asylum Reparatively Asylum as Restitution, Compensation and Satisfaction What This Argument is Not References Part II The Conditions of Asylum as Reparation 4 Causality and Outcome Responsibility Outcome Responsibility Causal Responsibility for Forced Migration Creating Refugee Movements Intensifying Refugee Movements Creating the Conditions for Refugee Movements Joint Responsibility Assigning Outcome and Reparative Responsibility References 5 Unjustified Harm Just Displacement Tragically Justified Displacement and Dirty Hands Features of Dirty Hands Cases Reparative Obligations and the International Context What Reparation Would Be Owed? References 6 Reparative Fittingness Reparative Alternatives to Asylum Other Considerations Refugees’ Choice Rectifying Particular Harms of Displacement References 7 Reparation and Capability Absorptive Capacity Incapacity and Progressive Realisation From Reparation to Capability References Part III Domestic and International Implications 8 Reparative Justice and the Prioritisation of Refugees Reparative and Humanitarian Asylum Reparative Asylum and Prioritisation in Refugee Admissions Humanitarian Duties and Reparative Obligations Asylum, Reparation and Prioritisation References 9 Reparative Justice and International Refugee Responsibility-Sharing Situations of Full Compliance Situations of Partial Compliance Incentives Incentive 1: ‘Refugee Insurance’ and Moral Hazard Incentive 2: The ‘Blame Game’ Incentive 3: Refusing Humanitarian Intervention Implications References 10 Conclusion References