The responses of states to the transnational problem of conflict fleeing migrants and refugees: A New Haven school perspective

Eda, Luke

Abstract

International law imposes obligations on states to search for missing migrants and respect the rights of their surviving families. Despite the existence of such obligations, in recent years, the perilous journeys of migrants fleeing armed conflicts and persecution have seen thousands die and go missing in deadly shipwrecks in a desperate attempt to reach Europe in search of safety and protection. Such risky journeys pose a challenge for international law and international decision-making especially regarding the multiplicity of perspectives as what should be the appropriate response of states to the problem, for example, responses through legislations, policies, judicial strategies or through consensus building and action plans. At present, EU states’ responses to the problem, often informed by a mix of doctrines of humanitarianism, externalisation, securitisation, and solidarity have been caught up in a multileveled legal and policy architecture that whilst at times, complementary at EU level, also competes with, sometimes, conflict with the interest of non-EU states and other stakeholders outside Europe. Through the lens of the New Haven School, which provides a contemporary theoretical and methodological approach to analysing transnational legal problems through the process of authoritative and controlling decision making, this paper considers, in general, the specific responses of states to the transnational problem of missing migrants. The paper argues that states developing more value-based and value-dependent migration policies that empower migrants to maximise access to the shared values of human dignity at all stages of their journeys across seas and borders is key to preventing migrant deaths and migrants going missing in transnational migration.

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: Bournemouth University Law Community Research Seminar Series
• Start Date: Mar 9, 2022
• End Date: Mar 9, 2022
• Deposit Date: Dec 11, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 12, 2022
• Keywords: Missing Migrants, State Responses, New Haven School, Migrants, Immigration, Migration
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10249375
• Publisher URL: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/events/bu-law-community-series-seminar-series
• Related Public URLs: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/events/bu-law-community-series-seminar-series