Rights Of Migrants Research Articles

Butterfly Crossings

Abstract Migration is a bedrock reality of earthly life. This truth invites us to imagine the span of the Americas beginning not with borders and walls but instead with movement beyond them. What might our continents and countries begin to look and feel like if we acknowledged the necessity of these crossings, the kinship and well-being that movement sustains? The essay explores these questions through a series of meditations on the monarch butterfly, a creature that has become in recent years the symbol of a more expansive vision of North American belonging. Anand Pandian describes affinities for the butterfly articulated and expressed by artists, migrant rights activists, butterfly enthusiasts, and migrants themselves, in the United States and in Mexico. In the company of migrants, both human and lepidopteran, Pandian explores an alternative vision of collective life beyond national walls and borders. With the lifeways of the monarch butterfly, the most crucial lesson has to do with the relationships that propel movement across borders, the ties that draw together those within and those without. A society of rigid walls and borders may seek to repudiate their reality, or their necessity. And yet these relationships remain at work in our world of pervasive motion and migration, binding our fates together with living beings and distant places far beyond the span of the lines we draw.

Mainstreaming Internal Migration in Law and Policy Frameworks in Bangladesh: Analysis of a Rights-Based Approach to a Wicked Policy Problem

Internal migration presents many challenges for governmental coordination due to the extensive and immediate action required to address this problem. However, it also poses opportunities regarding education, employment and living conditions, if the government creates pull factors to distribute migration away from primary to secondary cities. This process will require a rights-based approach, whereby the rights of internal migrants are mainstreamed in government planning to enable sustainable migration to Bangladesh’s secondary cities. In this paper, the current international human rights and internal migration laws will be analysed, alongside the domestic laws and policies relevant to internal migration in Bangladesh. In doing so, this paper will explore how government policy and action can employ a rights-based approach to incorporate internal migration within the government’s overarching development framework. A rights-based approach is necessary to effectively prepare for, and adapt to, the increase in internal migration in an equitable way.

Seguridad humana de los desplazados de Venezuela en Chile frente a la crisis regional y el COVID-19

The phenomenon of migration and displacement of Venezuelans to Chile will be investigated from a multidisciplinary perspective and hermeneutic, interpretative and documentary analysis. The phenomenon will be observed from various theoretical perspectives, whose central construct is migration and displacement as a phenomenon that impacts human security. The Venezuelan humanitarian emergency of the period 2017–2021 will be studied in the context of COVID-19, and the idea of a supraregional universal jurisdiction will be analyzed, in view of the obligation to protect citizens by the States in Latin America. The research question is: what are the limits of the State’s responsibility to respond to the human security of migrants and displaced persons based on the Venezuelan experience in Chile in the years 2017–2021? The author will verify the hypothesis that human security in the region is an aspiration that needs supranational actions to ensure that the human rights of migrants and displaced persons are respected and protected by the authorities of the nation-states of Latin America.

Human rights education in indonesian higher education institutions: opinions of students and teachers

As problems of intolerance and disrespect of human rights escalate in this modern world, raising public awareness on human rights is considered an inevitable task for all. Intervention of promoting human rights in education field is believed to be playing an important role to address the problems. This study wants to collect information from its research subjects on the extent to which topics of human rights are being learned and taught in higher education institutions, and on the degree of effectiveness of different methods used to learn and teach human rights in higher education institutions, as to develop human rights knowledge and understanding of students. This study uses the technique of homogenous purposive sampling to determine the research subject. The research subjects are (1) students who take the course subject of Human Rights or Citizenship and (2) lecturers who teach either the course subject of Human Rights or Citizenship, in any higher education institutions in Indonesia. The questionnaire is developed using Google Form, and is distributed online. As the result of the survey for 445 students and 72 teachers of Indonesian higher educational institutions, most of them are familiar with the concept of human rights. The most significant sources of information on human rights are university lecturers, mass media, official documents, and publications. The most important level of education to receive knowledge and build understanding on human rights are secondary education, higher education, elementary education, and vocational education. General human rights, right to freedom of religion and belief, and right to education are fully developed. More of other rights, such as rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ), rights of migrants, rights of internally displaced persons, and rights of the poor, are expected to be more developed than they are now. The most effective methods are field visit/excursions, watching films, problem solving, and case studies. The least effective methods are arts (drawing and singing), writing essays and stories, and games.

Anti-Migrant Authoritarian Populism and the Global Vaccination Challenge

This article explores the ways in which anti-migrant and refugee discourses and policies have flourished throughout the Covid-19 pandemic despite dominant global public health concerns, especially around vaccines. Our argument is that pre-crisis authoritarian, populist, and nativist political tendencies have proven remarkably resilient, interacting readily with the pandemic to further justify a rolling back on refugee and migrant rights. These tendencies risk, in several contexts, undermining the comprehensive global vaccination effort needed to combat the pandemic.

Mediation: from theoretical aspects to the practical implementation of migrants labor rights

In the article, the authors explores the concept of mediation as a way to resolve labor disputes during the practical implementation of labor rights of migrants. The urgency of the research topic is due to the increase in the number of labor migrants from Ukrainian citizens abroad, as well as the gradual increase in the quality of labor in Ukraine from abroad. Migration processes are related to the realization by citizens not only of the right to work, but also of the right to social protection, living standards, and other inalienable rights. The authors emphasize that the problems of migrant workers are studied only in quantitative terms, and their practical solution through the improvement of the mechanism of mediation support in resolving labor disputes remains unnoticed by scholars and requires special attention. Under the concept of mediation, the authors understand the pre-trial method of resolving disputes, but focuses on the fact that the Law of Ukraine "On Mediation" does not contain a mechanism for protecting migrant workers and needs to be finalized in this area. The migration process involves the transfer of human labor not only from Ukraine but also in Ukraine (from among foreign nationals). The number of migrant workers is growing every year, and the number of cases of violation of migrants' labor rights, which require a mediator and mediation procedures involvement, is automatically increasing. There are two parties to individual labor disputes: the worker and the employer. Disputes in court can be resolved through administrative or civil proceedings. According to the authors, the essence of the dispute may be resumption of work, registration of employment, compensation for material damage, dismissal, formulation of reasons for dismissal, disciplinary action, payment for downtime, forced absences, and more. The appeal to the court to resolve the dispute on the part of the employee is associated either with awareness of legal norms that directly indicate a violation of labor rights, or with the acquisition of legal assistance (information from counsel, lawyer), or illustrative examples of such disputes. The employer's appeal to the court is motivated by awareness of the law, which he is directly guided by in its activities, as well as the presence of the legal service. The authors also give examples of the impossibility of resolving a labor dispute through the mediation procedure, to the special nature of the labor dispute. Signs of unmediability are the lack of a direct ban on mediation; the nature of the dispute or a direct indication of its resolution through mediation; the possibility of procedural registration of the mediation procedure; the subject and content of the dispute do not contradict morality and public order. The authors cite an accident at work and negligent attitude to work as an example of such a sign. In other cases, mediation is permissible. Specific issues of prohibition of mediation in labor law should be reflected in current legislation.

How Different Is the Annual Physical Examination of Older Migrants than That of Older Nonmigrants? A Coarsened Exact Matching Study from China.

It has become a top priority to ensure equal rights for older migrants in China. This study aims to explore how different the annual physical examination of older migrants is compared to that of older nonmigrants in China by using a coarsened exact matching method, and to explore the factors affecting annual physical examination among older migrants in China. Data were drawn from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey 2015 and China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey 2015. The coarsened exact matching method was used to analyse the difference in the annual physical examination of older migrants and nonmigrants. A logistic regression was used to analyse the factors affecting annual physical examination among older migrants. The annual physical examination of older migrants was 35.6%, which was significantly lower than that of older nonmigrants after matching (Odds ratios = 0.91, p < 0.05). It was affected by education, employment, hukou, household economic status, health, health insurance, main source of income, type of migration, range of migration, years of migration, having health records in local community and number of local friends among older migrants in China. Older migrants adopted negative strategies in annual physical examination compared to older nonmigrants. Active strategies should be made to improve the equity of annual physical examination for older migrants in China.

The Janus face of development brokers across migration borders

AbstractEmploying an ethnographic approach, I analyse the agentive practices of a codevelopment project named Africoop, showing how it navigates the migration‐development field by blending egalitarianism rights‐based concerns with hierarchical political authority, foregrounding economic neoliberalism and translating development. Africoop advocated for migrants rights and opened up opportunities for social mobility and also reproduced gender asymmetries and power relations among Italian donors and Ghanaian recipients. By examining the organisational level of brokerage and the career trajectories of the main leaders, I unravel how social nets, aspirations and biographical paths are interwoven to reconfigure the brokers' representativeness and accountability across migration borders.

Struggles for democracy: strategies and resources of initiatives for non-citizen voting rights at local levels in Europe

This paper deals with non-citizen voting rights from the perspective of grassroots initiatives that campaign for more inclusive local voting rights for migrants. It looks at three initiatives in three European cities with a growing foreign population: in Basel (Switzerland), Brussels (Belgium), and Freiburg (Germany). All three initiatives address authorities with the need to increase options for migrant political participation at the local level, encourage political engagement, and raise awareness of the topic. The initiatives use different strategies, which include the performance and appropriation of rights in symbolic elections or parliamentary sessions. We interpret these activities as “acts of citizenship” and observe that these acts are not only responses to available political opportunity structures, but rather mobilize external and internal networks and invest considerable resources to make this kind of engagement possible in a specific “resource environment”.

Gobernanza y manejo del flujo de migración venezolana en Ecuador: enfoque en reducción de estigma y generación de oportunidades para población en situación de movilidad

In recent years, the governance and management of the flow of Venezuelan migration in Ecuador has been questioned, so that several countries in the South American region have modified migration legislation in accordance with international standards, protecting the rights of migrants as all human beings in vulnerable situations, who have traveled miles to reach Ecuador in search of opportunities, This has led to an increase in the number of evicted families, in a situation of mobility with a greater burden of difficulties when accessing basic services, including the most worrying, health in the face of a global health problem such as the pandemic, in addition to mental health problems associated with xenophobia, stigma, begging, among others. A qualitative approach was used with theoretical and analytical methods and data collection through interviews with representatives of the Venezuelan community in Guayas; information is generated on the needs of this target group and the management of the migration flow with a more conscious management, with a focus on reducing stigma, prevailing human rights with actions that allow the generation of opportunities by applying public policy with the objective of protecting migrants located in the city of Guayaquil.

Genesis of citizens' rights and security

This study reveals the problem of protecting the rights of migrant workers in the CIS countries. The authors conduct a comparative analysis of international law in the context of the protection of the rights of migrants. The study demonstrates the priority use of bilateral international cooperation agreements that provide the necessary level of protection of the rights of migrant workers. In comparison with bilateral agreements between countries, international cooperation within the framework of bilateral regulation allows for a higher level of protection of migrant workers and their social security. The article demonstrates that the international legal field basically contains generalizing norms and provisions on the status, rights and obligations of migrant workers. On the other hand, the bilateral agreement is being concretized and relevant regulatory legal acts are being implemented more successfully.

(Un)making the established-outsiders figuration in anti-racist and migrant rights activism

The article discusses recent anti-racist and migrant rights activism in Finland with the help of Norbert Elias’ figurational sociology and the concept of the established-outsiders figuration. The mobilisation of ‘outsiders’ (racialised minorities and migrants) has reordered the contemporary field and challenged the ‘established’ majority activists to reflect on their own practices. Through combining figurational and cultural perspectives, I compare the extent to which established liberal and left-libertarian activists, with their distinct ideological positions, have succeeded in transforming the power ratio between themselves and the outsiders. This article advances the use of the established-outsiders conceptualisation in cases where the established support, in principle, the outsiders’ inclusion. This helps to shed light on both the more covert and subtle ways through which the established reproduce their power as well as their agency in dismantling the power disparity.

Unsustainable Systems: Externalization as a Nonviable Form of Migration Management in the Face of Climate Change

Climate change has recently emerged as a major factor informing people’s decision to migrate and has increased the urgency of traditional reasons behind migration such as economic hardship, political turmoil, repression, and unjust social conditions. Indeed, given the increasing gravity of climate change, every single individual could become a migrant and every single country could be a source of migration. Regarding the management of migration, which impacts more and more places, a more equitable sharing of responsibility would not only protect the rights of migrants but also create a fair system for all nations. This study addresses climate change along with the more traditional reasons behind migratory movements. It tackles the role of externalization policies, which are expected to gain further momentum due to the growing diversity of push factors, on migratory movements. It also analyzes the functions and implementation of border control, repatriation agreements, and other legal arrangements intended to make it harder for migrants to access international protection.

The rights of migrants to the identification of their dead: an attempt at an identification strategy from Italy

Europe is turning a blind eye on a humanitarian disaster unfolding at its doorsteps, with thousands of migrants dying unidentified in Mediterranean waters. Since 2014, Italy has been struggling in an almost indifferent international scenario to identify its dead migrants. Despite the lack of sufficient resources, of the difficulties in collecting post mortem data from the disseminated bodies, and of the problems of contacting and collecting ante mortem information from relatives, it has been proven, with a series of pilot studies, that not only can these bodies be identified but that relatives are also looking for their loved ones and need death certificates. This article focuses on the administrative limbo and lack of regulations obliging single states to engage in appropriate procedures to maximise identification.

Contributors

Contributors

Indonesia's Promotion of UN Migrant Protection Norms in ASEAN

Scholars have devoted insufficient attention to Indonesia's foreign policy on migrant worker protection, especially as mobilized in multilateral institutions. This article addresses such knowledge gaps by analyzing why Indonesia has, for almost two decades, persistently promoted the United Nations Migrant Worker Convention in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) despite constant pushback from migrant-receiving countries. It argues that Indonesia's persistence is driven by its locally constituted meaning of migrant worker rights. In particular, this article advances the critical norms approach in international relations to demonstrate that its interpretation is influenced by "Indonesia's normative baggage," or past experiences with labour migration that have too frequently dealt with the exploitation of Indonesian citizens abroad. This normative baggage in turn shapes the country's diplomacy and promotion of convention standards deemed appropriate for safeguarding Indonesian migrants in ASEAN. In presenting the argument, this article contributes to the study of labour migration by scrutinizing Indonesia's foreign policy on migrant protection and unpacking norm interpretation processes that are necessary in international negotiations.

I'm Keeping My Baby: Migrant Domestic Worker Rights at The Intersection of Labour and Immigration Laws

AbstractEmployment relations systems generally fail to enforce all legal rights of migrant workers. This article illustrates a broader approach to the way labour migration is regulated in practice, using the example of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. Political economists have shown that the reality of low-wage migration is either ‘more rights, less access’ or ‘fewer rights, greater access’ in terms of rights enforcement systems. Attention to the effectiveness of such mechanisms and processes reveals another feature of regulation: the divergence of theory from practice. Much scholarly attention has been paid to rights, and this analysis, in which enforcement of those rights is sought, contributes to the literature with a frequently-occurring example of how such regulatory practices effectively restrict migrant rights. The article concludes by arguing that regulation uses employers as a further ‘mechanism of control’ to determine the actual quantity and quality of migrant workers’ employment rights regardless of what is stipulated in the law.

Paradoxical migrant allyship: the adoption of a disciplinary model of ‘compulsory integration’ for asylum seekers in Italy

ABSTRACT Recent scholarship has focused extensively on the deployment of technologies of security as a tactic of migration governance. The analyses have largely been on the effect of prioritising state security over migrant rights and the subsequent impact on their well-being. In our analysis of a migrant accommodation centre called the L’Accademia d’Integrazione (Bergamo, Italy) we contribute to this literature through a multi-scalar analysis of the place-specific rationales justifying the use of these technologies. There, migrants are required to wear jumpsuits reading ‘Thank you Bergamo,’ and subject to behavioural regulation, restricted mobility, and omnipresent surveillance. We observe how this new model of migration governance based around compulsory training and discipline emerged as an attempt to gain political control over the dominant discourse around the perceived migrant threat. Racialised preconceptions of African migrants, their presumed lack of cultural compatibility and a perceived unwillingness to participate in existing integration programs permeated the media and political rhetoric, challenging state sovereignty and perceived control. We see how this approach designed to foster ‘palatability’ contributed to their further differentiation, subjugation, and marginalisation. We question the conceptualisation of integration within the program arguing that rather than produce parity it commits structural violence in form and practice.

The Adiaphorization and Dehumanization of Migrations from the Ethical and Moral Approach of Public Policies

Today, migration has become one of the main challenges for humanity. In the last ten years, the percentage of displaced people gradually increased, mainly from the southern hemisphere to the north, in search for better living conditions and, in many cases, forced by risks and instability in their countries of origin. The COVID-19 pandemic, far from minimizing migrations, further exacerbated these processes. In light of this situation, some states passed immigration laws that protect their citizens on one hand, but which violate the fundamental rights of migrants on the other. This article aims to determine the main reasons behind the alarming process of migrant dehumanization. We will verify how these national and supranational laws and decisions represent a move towards securitization through a strategic or adiaphoric process, and how ethics and morals are not at the core of these policies. With these decisions, the suffering and death of migrants generates attitudes of indifference among citizens, who often accept and normalize its occurrence. We suggest revising these public policies on migration from the framework of the ethics of Levinasian alterity and Kantian hospitality.

Women in Medicine: The Limits of Individualism in Academic Medicine.

In the 21st century, more than ever before, issues facing women in medicine, such as pay equity and workplace harassment, are being explored and attended to by physicians and health care institutions. Discussions about women in medicine almost exclusively center around women physicians, even though most women in medicine are, in fact, not physicians. In addition, these discussions typically focus on gender, often failing to consider how race, class, and other dimensions of identity influence the experiences of women in medicine. In this article, the authors argue that neoliberal feminism is the dominant strand of feminism in the discourse of women in medicine. With its focus on the individual and a conception of success defined in largely economic terms, neoliberal feminism fails to consider the broader conditions in which women are situated and, therefore, limits structural criticism and the possibility for all women to engage in social justice. The authors suggest that the pandemic is an opportunity to pursue a more expansive vision of feminism in medicine. They propose intersectional feminism as a theoretical framework that can widen the understanding of what is possible: moving from individual actions resulting in incremental change to collective action that can transform systems. Intersectional feminism enables a push for structures, institutions, and practices that support all workers, including basic income, labor protections, public childcare, accessible health care, transportation justice, and migrant rights. In so doing, intersectional feminism calls for solidarity with and among women both within and outside of medicine.