Protecting Refugees Inside, Protecting Borders Abroad? Gender in the EU’s Responses to the ‘Refugee Crisis’

Abstract

Migration tends to be denoted as a crisis which needs a solution. The European Union has developed policies for dealing with this crisis internally, within its borders, and externally. Both the experiences of migrants and European Union policy responses are gendered and have gendered effects. This article analyses how the European Union refers to gender in its definitions of and responses to the crisis. Grounded in feminist policy analysis, I scrutinize European Union internal and external policies under its Agenda of Migration. The analysis finds that European Union internal crisis responses demonstrate a more comprehensive understanding of gendered vulnerabilities and a commitment to human right provisions. External crisis responses reduce gender considerations to refugee women and the policy objective of reducing refugee arrivals which leads to further curtailing refugees’ access to protection. Showing how the crisis transforms the very meaning and scope of gender considerations to various degrees, the article furthers insights on how the European Union’s normative commitments develop in times of crisis.

Violación de los Derechos Humanos de mujeres migrantes internacionales durante el trayecto migratorio: revisión sistematizada

“…En esta línea, otra de las vulnerabilidades detectadas es la constante agrupación de mujeres y niños/as bajo un mismo marco de victimización en ciertos aspectos migratorios como puede ser las personas refugiadas (Welfens, 2020). Tal y como indica dicho autor, esta vinculación infantiliza al colectivo, además de ignorar las complejas intersecciones que se producen por la edad, el género, la etnia, la religión, la clase social, entre otros.…”

“…Las investigaciones que existen afirman que las migrantes se ven expuestas a violencias, riesgos y explotación durante todas las etapas de la migración (Gottardo & Cyment, 2019;J. Hennebry et al, 2016) esto se debe, en gran parte, a la interacción que se produce entre el género con otras categorías como la nacionalidad, la edad o la orientación sexual (Leyva-Flores et al, 2019;Lutz, 2010;Welfens, 2020). El cuerpo de las protagonistas y su sexualidad se encuentran inmersos en una violencia estructural que trasciende las fronteras nacionales (Blancas, 2017).…”

Understanding the European Union as a Global Gender Actor: The Holistic Intersectional and Inclusive Study of Gender+ in External Actions

“…Also, in internal EU equality policy, the focus has increasingly expanded in the past decade to cover multiple equality strands including race and ethnicity, religion, age, disability, and sexual orientation (Kantola, 2010). The question whether multiple inequalities and intersectionality are also being taken up in EU external policies remains to be answered, although Allwood’s (2019) and Welfrens’ (2019) contributions to this Special Issue, as well as Kaijser and Kronsell’s (2014), address intersectionality in EU development, refugee and climate policies.…”

The Fragmented Inclusion of Gender Equality in AU-EU Relations in Times of Crises

“…As regards gender equality, promisingly, in the Political Declaration of the Valletta summit, African and European leaders ‘commit to undertake concrete actions to respond to challenges of migration and mobility at the appropriate level and with a gender perspective ’ (Council, 2015a: 3, italics added). In the accompanying Action Plan, however, this cross-cutting gender norm is shrunk to the vague promise ‘to pay attention to the gender of victims of trafficking’ (Council, 2015b: 3) and to support ‘the most vulnerable, in particular women and children’ (Council, 2015b: 12), reflecting a narrow ‘women-and-children’ approach (Welfens, 2019).…”