15 Migrants’ Citizenship and Rights: Limits and Potential for NGOs’ Advocacy in Chile

Abstract

In this chapter we address the structural and institutional constraints faced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) assisting Peruvian migrants in Chile to advocate for migrants' rights. We argue that these constraints have provoked reactive rather than proactive strategic responses by NGOs in their promotion of migrants' rights. In addition, the unchallenged acceptance of a traditional notion of citizenship has placed Chilean NGOs as short-term service providers rather than as long-term advocates. We propose that a conscious recognition of the possibilities opened up by international legal regimes to confront nation-states' regulation of migrants' rights offers a pragmatic approach to navigating such limits.

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