Fighting Human Trafficking and Violence against Migrants through Better Migration Management? A Critical Account Of the Rabat and Khartoum Processes

Sub-Saharan migrants experience human rights abuses like human trafficking and other forms of violence on their migratory journey towards Europe. The EU and its member states claim to respect human rights in their foreign migration policy. At the same time, European foreign migration policy is characterised by restrictive access to the EU and tight border controls based on the securitisation of migration. This thesis takes a critical stance on European foreign migration policy, not only discussing the area of tension between human rights and state interests, but analysing how a humanitarian discourse like the fight against human trafficking is appropriated to advance state interests. Using a critical framework comprised of neoliberal governmentality and mobility studies, this thesis offers a different perspective to think about human trafficking of migrants. A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Rabat and Khartoum Processes, two multi-lateral policy initiatives that govern migration...Show moreSub-Saharan migrants experience human rights abuses like human trafficking and other forms of violence on their migratory journey towards Europe. The EU and its member states claim to respect human rights in their foreign migration policy. At the same time, European foreign migration policy is characterised by restrictive access to the EU and tight border controls based on the securitisation of migration. This thesis takes a critical stance on European foreign migration policy, not only discussing the area of tension between human rights and state interests, but analysing how a humanitarian discourse like the fight against human trafficking is appropriated to advance state interests. Using a critical framework comprised of neoliberal governmentality and mobility studies, this thesis offers a different perspective to think about human trafficking of migrants. A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Rabat and Khartoum Processes, two multi-lateral policy initiatives that govern migration beyond European borders and claim to fight human trafficking, reveals the necessity to re-think migration policy, include migrants as political agents in the policy process and address questions of unjust global power relations.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Fighting Human Trafficking and Violence against Migrants through Better Migration Management? A Critical Account Of the Rabat and Khartoum Processes