The Enemy at the Gates: International Borders, Migration and Human Rights

Pia Oberoi and Eleanor Taylor-Nicholson
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Pia Oberoi: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Office at Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Eleanor Taylor-Nicholson: Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, Charan Sanitwong Road, Lane 11, Bangkok, 10600, Thailand

Laws, 2013, vol. 2, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: This article considers contemporary border management regimes from a human rights perspective. It demonstrates how a preoccupation with border controls and enforcement has led to serious concerns for the safety and protection of migrants. As border zones have expanded, border crossing has become a more stigmatized and dangerous activity, and even as globalization has given rise to easier and faster international travel, for some, such movement has been outlawed and stigmatized. Measures to strengthen and “secure” borders have paradoxically made migrants, particularly irregular and vulnerable migrants, more at risk of violence and exploitation by non-State and State actors. Migration governance regimes at international borders are thus increasingly located within security and enforcement frameworks that pay little attention to the principles and standards of international human rights law. The paper argues that a human rights-based approach to such regimes is urgently needed, in order to address a growing human rights crisis at international borders.

Keywords: migration; immigration; border control; human rights; security; migrant smuggling; criminalization; irregular migrants; OHCHR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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