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The EU Humanitarian Border and the Securitization of Human Rights: The ‘Rescue†Through†Interdiction/Rescue†Without†Protection’ Paradigm

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  • Violeta Moreno†Lax

Abstract

This article looks at securitization/humanitarianization dynamics in the EU external sea borders to track and critique the substantial transformation of the role played by human rights in the Mediterranean. Mapping the evolution of maritime engagement up to the ‘refugee crisis’, it is revealed how the invocation of human rights serves paradoxically to curtail (migrants') human rights, justifying interdiction (‘to save lives’), and impeding access to safety in Europe. The result is a double reification of ‘boat migrants’ as threats to border security and as victims of smuggling/trafficking. Through a narrative of ‘rescue’, interdiction is laundered into an ethically sustainable strategy of border governance. Instead of being considered a problematic (potentially lethal) means of control, it is re†defined into a life†saving device. The ensuing ‘rescue†through†interdiction’/‘rescue†without†protection’ paradigm alters the nature of human rights, which, rather than functioning as a check on interdiction, end up co†opted as another securitization/humanitarianization tool.

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  • Violeta Moreno†Lax, 2018. "The EU Humanitarian Border and the Securitization of Human Rights: The ‘Rescue†Through†Interdiction/Rescue†Without†Protection’ Paradigm," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 119-140, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:56:y:2018:i:1:p:119-140
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12651
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    Cited by:

    1. Natalie Welfens & Saskia Bonjour, 2023. "Seeking Legitimacy Through Knowledge Production: The Politics of Monitoring and Evaluation of the EU Trust Fund for Africa," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 951-969, July.
    2. Schöfberger, Irene, 2019. "Migration: solid nations and liquid transnationalism? The EU's struggle to find a shared course on African migration 1999-2019," IDOS Discussion Papers 1/2019, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    3. Caterina Molinari, 2022. "The Borders of the Law: Legal Fictions, Elusive Borders, Migrants’ Rights," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 239-245.
    4. Nathan Lauwers & Jan Orbie & Sarah Delputte, 2021. "The Politicization of the Migration–Development Nexus: Parliamentary Discourse on the European Union Trust Fund on Migration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 72-90, January.
    5. Stephan Keukeleire & Sharon Lecocq & Frédéric Volpi, 2021. "Decentring Norms in EU Relations with the Southern Neighbourhood," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 891-908, July.
    6. Bartek Pytlas, 2021. "Hijacking Europe: Counter‐European Strategies and Radical Right Mainstreaming during the Humanitarian Crisis Debate 2015–16," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 335-353, March.
    7. ÄŠetta Mainwaring & Daniela DeBono, 2021. "Criminalizing solidarity: Search and rescue in a neo-colonial sea," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(5), pages 1030-1048, August.

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