Making claims for migrant workers: human rights and citizenship

Abstract

Abstract:Migrant workers claims for greater protection in a globalized world are typically expressed either in the idiom of international human rights or citizenship. Instead of contrasting these two normative frames, the paper explores the extent to which human rights and citizenship discourses intersect when it comes to claims by migrant workers. An analysis of the international human and labour rights instruments that are specifically designed for migrant workers reveals how neither discourse questions the assumption of territorial state sovereignty. Drawing upon sociological and political approaches to human rights claims, I evaluate the Arendtian-inspired critique of international human rights, which is that they ignore the very basis Òright to have rights.Ó In doing so, I discuss the different dimensions of citizenship, and conclude that international rights can be used by migrant workers to assert right claims that reinforce a conception of citizenship that, although different from national citizenship, has the potential to address their distinctive social location.

Employer theft of temporary migrant workers’ wages in Australia: Why has the state failed to act?

“…Migrant labour is often -though not always (Bauder, 2006)associated with low-paid and lower-skilled work (Piore, 1979;Waldinger and Lichter, 2003), particularly in labour markets with structural barriers to collective representation which can hinder workers' assertion of rights (Holgate, 2005). Temporary migrants are more vulnerable due to limited rights and employment opportunities (Fudge, 2014;Ruhs, 2013) and visa rules that 'institutionalise' dependence on employers (Anderson, 2010;Campbell et al, 2016). For instance, visa rules can constrain the mobility of migrants to switch employers Zou, 2015) or require migrants to gain employer verification to extend their residency rights (Reilly, 2015;Robertson, 2014).…”

Understanding Meaning and Characteristics of Civic Development in Higher Education

“…10, No. 16;2014 first stage of civic development (Dudley & Gitelson, 2003), which is needed for students' civic engagement (Watkins, 2010). The second theme is civic tendency, which entails students personalizing civic knowledge, and involves a contextualization of learning, as well as critical thinking.…”

Unconventional relationships, positive marginalities and citizenship

“…Increasingly, critical theorisations of care work, intimacy and citizenship from feminist, multicultural and global perspectives have highlighted several ways to bridge the gaps between the theories and practices of care, sexuality, intimacy, migration and social inclusion, providing a broader, more grounded, intersectional understanding of citizenship (Epstein and Carrillo, 2014;Fudge, 2014;Kershaw, 2010;Longman et al, 2013;Sevenhuijsen, 1998;Yuval-Davis, 2007). For example, Longman et al's comparative, intersectional analysis of 'mothering' in non-conventional mother-child relationships (2013) shows how care work and its micro-based, affective potential to shape politics of inclusion and recognition becomes a form of 'citizenship practice' which changes hegemonic understandings of belonging and entitlement.…”

“…Kerhsaw's claim the 'caregiving for identity is political' (2010) advances the debate on the contested status of care work as a form of political citizenship. Fudge (2014) discusses the extent to which universal human rights and citizenship discourses intersect when migrant workers claim for greater protection in a growingly globalised world. Epstein and Carrillo (2014) illustrate the concept of immigrant sexual citizenship by discussing ethnographic data from a study on Mexican gay and bisexual male immigrants to California and describing the multiple, intersectional challenges they face.…”