This paper offers a view on why and how migrations have been perceived as a security threat in the European Union. The underlining question posed is how the ambition of EU nation-states to control the entry and movement of people can be reconciled with liberal standards promoting human rights, open borders and humanitarian values. The author uses the theory of securitization, Didier Bigo's concept of Ban-opticon and human security concept as theoretical grounds, while the normative and political discourse analyses are utilized to show the EU practice. The intention is to show that while the number of migrants has not been significantly change in the last years, the public perception is different, especially due to the Arab Spring. The EU, which integration and long-time economic success would not be possible without constant influx of the immigrants, in the recent years developed people unfriendly migration control system. I argue that such system came as a result of several factors, most notably societal securitization. As the Arab turmoil coincides with the post 9/11 changes in security policies, economic crisis and the rise of far right parties in several EU Member States, the migration issue has been increasingly securitized. EU's legal norms and methods follow such societal securitization. Tight border control (including increased surveillance), usage of buffer zones and externalization of border control are crucial EU methods of dealing with migration. The author concludes that while migrations have a clear security dimension, they are best addressed through rights-based policies.
Traditionally, the literature has recognised the role of public libraries in the promotion of human rights, through their efforts in making information accessible to anyone, irrespective of their personal circumstances. At the same time, scholars have largely overlooked their potential in the protection of human rights. This article shows that libraries can make an important contribution to the protection function, by using the example of cooperation between the National Ombudsman of Serbia and 15 local public libraries in smaller municipalities. The research is framed within the Orchestration theory, recently developed by Abbott and others. We demonstrate that the relationship between the Ombudsman and local libraries can successfully be analysed with O-I-T framework, where the Ombudsman (Orchestrator) enlists local libraries (Intermediary) to become more accessible to citizens (Target), providing them with an easier way to communicate their human rights concerns and lodge a complaint with this key human rights remedy mechanism, by using the video communication software installed in local libraries. The results of this research could serve to inspire similar studies exploring the application of the Orchestration theory on the complex multi-actor human rights dynamics from a global perspective to national and local environments. While this research was inspired by the Serbian experience, its key policy implication is that innovative cooperation between a national human rights institution (NHRI) and local libraries is perfectly applicable to other states as well. The design of the project implemented in Serbia can be copied successfully worldwide, as it is not based on complicated infrastructural or institutional changes, but on creative and cost-effective idea.
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