Sovereignty and the global migration crisis: Legal and humanitarian challenges

Migration as a phenomenon is recognized as a major global problem which challenges state sovereignty and international law. Triggered by inevitable, conflict, environmental issues, poverty, and political volatilities an estimated millions of people are forced to relocate, making it a legal and humanitarian crisis. A crucial conflict in this matter is between state autonomy over border control and state’s legal commitment to refugees and migrants under human rights law and the 1951 Refugee Convention. Despite the fact, some countries take responsibility with providing asylum, others focus on protection of their national interests using politico-legal measures such as, closed borders, detention centers and deportation. Using doctrinal sources and comparative case legal research involving the European Migration Crisis and the Mexican-American border countries this research maps out ways in which sovereignty affects states’ compliance with international migration treaty provisions and refugee protection regimes. The study also assesses international agencies, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and regional frameworks as the drivers of state conduct. In particular, the main concern of the dissertation is changing sovereignty in the context of globalization, and based on this, the legal, policy, and institutional measures to balance the national interests and humanitarian goals of the international community, the importance of collective actions and the effective implementation of international legal norms. The goal is thus to present coherent guidelines and strategies for enhancing less politicized and more efficient global migration governance arrangements.