Boaventura de Sousa Santos treated Tilburg University to a colorful and rich pallet of topics during his Montesquieu lecture that prompted self-reflection and critical review of the role of law in ...our western societies. He argued that the way the law functions today leads to the creation of an abyssal line that creates radical exclusions. Although critical of the role of law and the legal regime in western societies, he encourages us, lawyers of the 21st century, to reform and further develop the law in such a way that it is built on democratic pluralism, interculturality and dignity and as such contributes to a more inclusive society. In this short reflection on de Sousa Santos' Lecture, I highlight some examples and situations that show how rules and procedures of Western societies can have detrimental effects on large groups of refugees and migrants.
Nearly 4 million Syrian refugees, including more than 1.8 million Syrian children, fled to Turkey during the Syrian war, where they face many challenges to rebuild their lives. They are confronted ...with restrictions on their residence status and access to the labor market, limiting their formal employment opportunities. Poverty and labor exploitation are widespread consequences, and to make ends meet, children are driven into the workforce. In Turkey, child labor among Turkish nationals is also widespread as follows from the Turkish national child labor survey from 2019, creating a fertile ground for Syrian children to take up work. Although child labor among the Syrian refugee population is gaining increasing attention among scholars and humanitarian actors, knowledge about its extent or characteristics remains limited. Drawing on a survey conducted in late 2020, this paper contributes to a deeper and more numerically based understanding of the current situation of Syrian minor workers in Turkey. The quantitative results of our research are compared with the Turkish national child labor survey, highlighting the differences and commonalities between Syrian and Turkish children working in the country and looking into the impact of the lack of permanent residency on the prevalence of child labor. Our findings suggest that Syrian children enter the labor force at a younger age and have less access to education while working very long hours and earning low wages. The study thus demonstrates the specific vulnerabilities of Syrian children to labor exploitation.
Central to this edited volume is the legal position and the labour situation of non-EU and EU low-waged migrant workers. Towards a Decent Labour Market for Low-Waged Migrant Workers presents ground ...breaking research on policies and practices in search of striking a right balance between the economic ambitions and the negative consequences thereof, for labour market dynamics such as down-ward wage pressures, unfair competition, the abuse of migrant workers and even the long-term setback for the children of previously low-waged migrant workers. Imbalances or presumed imbalances between free market mechanisms, labour migration policies, labour market protection and corrective mechanisms to protect migrant workers, thus come to the fore. The contributors to this volume will deconstruct some of these imbalances, and shed light on its causes, consequences and interrelatedness with other factors. Possible solutions that contribute to a decent labour market, in which rights of low-waged migrant workers are more respected, will be discussed.
This article investigates the relation between externalisation of border control to regulate or stop migration and the prohibition of refoulement. It aims to elucidate under what circumstances remote ...measures of border control trigger the obligations of states to protect persons from refoulement. The article focuses on the key concept of jurisdiction. Based on a rigorous study of literature and case law, de jure and de facto control as well as the exercise of public powers are identified as triggers of jurisdiction. Additionally, art 16 on aiding and assisting of the Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts ('ARSIWA') is discussed in relation to refoulement. Finally, in order to clarify state responsibility for refoulement the EU-Turkey Statement is assessed as a paradigmatic example of outsourcing border control.
The phenomenon that is coined "Sinai Trafficking" started in 2009 in the Sinai desert. It involves the abduction, extortion, sale, torture, sexual violation and killing of men, women and children. ...Migrants, of whom the vast majority are from Eritrean descent, are abducted and brought to the Sinai desert, where they are sold and resold, extorted for very high ransoms collected by mobile phone, while being brutally and "functionally" tortured to support the extortion. Many of them die in Sinai. Over the last five years broadcasting stations, human rights organisations and academics have reported on the practices in the Sinai and some of these reports have resulted in some confusion on the modus operandi. Based on empirical research by the authors and the analysis of data gathered in more than 200 recorded interviews with Sinai hostages and survivors on the practices, this article provides a definition of Sinai Trafficking. It argues that the term Sinai Trafficking can be used to differentiate a particular new set of criminal practices that have first been reported in the Sinai Peninsula. The article further examines how the new phenomenon of Sinai Trafficking can be framed into the legal human trafficking definition. The interconnectedness of Sinai Trafficking with slavery, torture, ransom collection, extortion, sexual violence and other severe crimes is presented to substantiate the use of the trafficking framework. The plight of Sinai survivors in Israel and Egypt is explained to illustrate the cyclical process of the trafficking practices especially endured by Eritreans, introduced as the Human Trafficking Cycle. The article concludes by setting out areas for further research.
The two Global Compacts on Migration and on Refugees, adopted in December 2018, reflect public and policy discourse and international legal norms in differentiating between "refugees" and "migrants". ...Yet, in a context of mixed migration flows, where migrants and refugees move along the same routes and are, for all but legal purposes, indistinguishable, it can be questioned to what extent distinctions in law are adequate. This essay challenges the dichotomy between "refugees" and "migrants" and instead refers to "people on the move" as an overarching category including a wider range of human mobility for whom there needs to be a basic standard of protection. More specifically, the essay argues we should broaden our analysis to include the rights of people on the move. We thus make an attempt at conceptualizing and delineating the rights of people on the move, anchored in a human rights approach, and pay particular attention to those rights that are the most relevant, namely their mobility rights, safety and dignity rights, and legal protection rights.
There is a common claim and widely held perception that statelessness puts a person at greater risk of becoming a victim of human trafficking. The underlying logic is compelling: without any ...nationality, stateless people often face severe obstacles in access to education, employment, health care, legal remedies, freedom of movement and other basic rights - thus they are more likely to take risks in the hope of improving their lives and they are more readily exploitable. The link between statelessness and a heightened vulnerability to human trafficking has, however, never been decisively demonstrated using empirical data. In order to fill this information gap, the authors sought to develop a methodology that would enable the connection between statelessness and trafficking to be mapped. This article outlines the theory and assumptions that underlie the research methodology developed and briefly discusses how this methodology is being implemented in a concrete pilot project in Thailand.
Despite attempts by the Dutch government to combat and discourage unlawful residence, there are people who live in the Netherlands without a residence permit. However, little is known about the way ...they live (or survive) and work in the Netherlands. Although their residence is not legal, this does not mean that migrants without residence permits have no rights. On the contrary, this book connects the legal legislation and regulations on the national and international level with the socio-economic reality of this vulnerable group of migrants. Based on unique empirical material, this study shows the discrepancy between the rights that also apply to migrants without residence permits, for example as workers, as patients or as residents, and shows the absence of protection in everyday practice. The book concludes with an exploration of possibilities for improving the vulnerable position of migrants without residence permits in the Netherlands.
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