The Coloniality of Migration Ethics: The Case of Undocumented Migrants

Migration ethics has its strongest implications on the particularly vulnerable population of undocumented migrants. In philosophy, decolonial conceptions of migration ethics have surfaced as a counterargument to the hegemonic canon of migration ethics, with the latter approaches focusing on the extent of a state’s right to regulate its borders and the former approaches undermining this state right to exclusion in order to uplift the rights of the migrant. In legal practice, the theory of the Strasbourg reversal argues that the ECtHR, the judicial human rights body representing the European states of the Global North, has an inclination to side with the state in its rulings, whilst the IACHR, the human rights court representing the Latin American states of the Global South, has a pro-homine bias. This study conducted a discourse analysis of a legal ruling from each court pertaining to undocumented migrants to explore the extent that decision-making in verdicts towards undocumented...Show moreMigration ethics has its strongest implications on the particularly vulnerable population of undocumented migrants. In philosophy, decolonial conceptions of migration ethics have surfaced as a counterargument to the hegemonic canon of migration ethics, with the latter approaches focusing on the extent of a state’s right to regulate its borders and the former approaches undermining this state right to exclusion in order to uplift the rights of the migrant. In legal practice, the theory of the Strasbourg reversal argues that the ECtHR, the judicial human rights body representing the European states of the Global North, has an inclination to side with the state in its rulings, whilst the IACHR, the human rights court representing the Latin American states of the Global South, has a pro-homine bias. This study conducted a discourse analysis of a legal ruling from each court pertaining to undocumented migrants to explore the extent that decision-making in verdicts towards undocumented migrants is influenced by coloniality in migration ethics, through either a hegemonic or decolonial conception of migration ethics. The results show that the ECtHR is influenced by the hegemonic discourse and the IACHR is influenced by the decolonial discourse, although there remains room for even more decolonial radicality.Show less

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The Coloniality of Migration Ethics: The Case of Undocumented Migrants