IFF Research Seminar: Christine Straehle (University of Ottawa), "Human Rights, Death and Migration"

Migration is dangerous. A recent ICRC report states that about 20, 000 migrants are believed to have gone missing between 2014 and 2019 in Europe alone (ICRC 2022). Many of those missing are expected to have died – either when crossing the Mediterranean (IOM 2017; Kovras and Robins 2016; Last et al 2014), or in transit in the back of a smuggler’s truck, or through untreated illness. Similarly, many migrants die in the desert along the Mexican-US border in their attempt to reach the opportunities of the US and Canada (De Leon 2015; Hinkes 2008).

The objective of this paper is to investigate how the dead are conceptualized in human rights and humanitarian law. In particular, I want to examine if a philosophical analysis of human rights can help explain the status of dead migrants. Think here for example, of the fact that the European Union has stipulated that member states have obligations to honour the dead on their territory (Grant 2016) - but it is not clear what this stipulation actually entails (critically Steinhilber et al 2018). Or think of the fact that Italy is the only country documented to have undertaken recovery efforts of sunken ships used by migrants to cross the Mediterranean, the last one in October 2015. In the words of then Prime Minister Renzi, he ordered the recoveries in order to honour the dead (Renzi 2015). One way of explaining these policy interventions would be to say that all individuals have rights and that allowing individuals to be buried is part of the rights catalogue. However, the puzzling question is how those who have died can be rightsholders. Put differently, I raise the question what account of the grounds of human rights can be employed to justify rights protective interventions for those whose time on earth is over. I suggest that the only plausible account might be one that considers human rights to protect human dignity. I then suggest that this implies honouring people’s life-plans. In a last section, I propose three different ways dead migrants’ life projects could be honoured. 

Wednesday 28/10, 12:15 – 14:00

Location: Teorifagbygget HUS1, Innsikten 1.524 and on Teams

This seminar is part of the IFF Research Seminar series. For link to Teams, please contact the organiser.