Counter-hegemonic uses of law in struggles for freedom of movement in the Central Mediterranean

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.1921

Keywords:

Search and Rescue, migration, Central Mediterranean, hegemony, litigation, postcolonial justice

Abstract

Law constitutes the architecture of the governance of global mobility. It regulates the irreducible impulse to move, binding people to territories through the institution of citizenship and limiting the possibilities of crossing international borders. Law can also be mobilised to secure the rights of people on the move. In the Mediterranean various actors interact across a densely entangled legal landscape involving the Law of the sea, fundamental rights and asylum, and public law rules granting control and repressive powers to states for border protection and crime prevention. This article asks if — and under which conditions — law can take on counter-hegemonic qualities in the struggles for freedom of movement. It argues that legal interventions that support migrants on the move can be counter-hegemonic if they combine different approaches regarding the legal responsibility of states and when they support migratory claims to enter European territory without focusing only on the issue of international protection.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

        Metrics

Views 138
Downloads:
14(4)_Santer_Gennari_OSLS 303
XML_14(4)_Santer_Gennari_OSLS 21


Author Biographies

Dr. des. Kiri Olivia Santer, University of Bern

Dr. des. Kiri Olivia Santer. Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern. Lerchenweg 36, 3012 Bern – Switzerland. Email address: kiri.santer@unibe.ch

Lucia Gennari, Studio legal Antartide

Studio legal Antartide

via Oslavia, 30

Roma 00195 - Italy

References

Achiume, T.E., 2019. Migration as Decolonization. Stanford Law Review [online], 71(6), 1509–1574. Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3330353

Affolter, L., 2022. Trained to Disbelieve: The Normalisation of Suspicion in a Swiss Asylum Administration Office. Geopolitics [online], 27(4), 1069–1092. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2021.1897577 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2021.1897577

Amighetti, S., and Nuti, A., 2016. A Nation’s Right to Exclude and the Colonies. Political Theory [online], 44(4), 541–566. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591715589764 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591715589764

Anghie, A., 2004. Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law [online]. Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511614262 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511614262

Arendt, H., 1951. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.

Atak, I., and Crépeau, F., 2021. Refugees as Migrants. In: C. Costello, M. Foster and J. McAdam, eds., The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law [online]. Oxford University Press, 134–151. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0008

Benhabib, S., and Nathwani, N., 2021. The Ethics of International Refugee Protection. In: C. Costello, M. Foster and J. McAdam, eds., The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law [online]. Oxford University Press, 114–133. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0007

Bhambra, G.K., 2015. Europe won’t resolve the “migrant crisis” until it faces its own past. The Conversation [online], 1 September. Available at: https://theconversation.com/europe-wont-resolve-the-migrant-crisis-until-it-faces-its-own-past-46555

Buckel, S., and Fischer-Lescano, A., 2009. Gramsci Reconsidered: Hegemony in Global Law. Leiden Journal of International Law [online], 22(3), 437–454. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0922156509990033 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0922156509990033

Buonamano, R., 1998. The Economy of Violence: Derrida on Law and Justice. Ratio Juris [online], 11(2), 168–179. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9337.00083 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9337.00083

Cancellaro, F., 2020. Dagli hotspot ai “porti chiusi”: quali rimedi per la libertà “sequestrata” alla frontiera? Diritto penale contemporaneo - Rivista trimestrale [online], n. 3. Available at: https://www.sistemapenale.it/it/articolo/cancellaro-hotspot-porti-chiusi-liberta-personale-rimedi

Carrera, S., and Cortinovis, R., 2019. Search and rescue, disembarkation and relocation arrangements in the Mediterranean: Sailing Away from Responsibility? CEPS Paper in Liberty and Security in Europe [online], 2019–10. Available at: https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-publications/search-and-rescue-disembarkation-and-relocation-arrangements-in-the-mediterranean/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429203275-10

Cover, R.M., 1983. Foreword: Nomos and Narrative. Harvard Law Review [online], 97(1), 4–68. https://doi.org/10.2307/1340787 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1340787

Danewid, I., 2017. White innocence in the Black Mediterranean: hospitality and the erasure of history. Third World Quarterly [online], 38(7), 1674–1689. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2017.1331123 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2017.1331123

Dann, P., and Eckert, J., 2020. Norm-creation beyond the state. In: M.C. Foblets et al., eds., The Oxford Handbook of Law and Anthropology [online]. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 808–826. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198840534.013.47 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198840534.013.47

De Vittor, F., 2023. La migrazione via mare nel diritto internazionale: libertà di movimento, obblighi di soccorso e rispetto dei diritti umani delle persone migranti. Naples: Editorial Scientifica.

Derrida, J., 1992. Force of Law: The “Mystical Foundation of Authority”. In: D. Cornell, M. Rosenfeld and D. Gray Carlson, eds., Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice. New York/London: Routledge.

Douzinas, C., 2000. The End of Human Rights: Critical Legal Thought at the Turn of the Century [online]. Oxford: Hart. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509955527 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509955527

Eckert, J., 2023. Decolonising the political: Presence, Law, and Obligation. Anthropological Theory [online], 23(4). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/14634996231185324 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14634996231185324

El-Enany, N., 2008. Who is the new European refugee? European Law Review [online], 33(3), 313–335. Available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1033334 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1033334

Fassin, D., 2005. Compassion and Repression: The Moral Economy of Immigration Policies in France. Cultural Anthropology [online], 20(3), 362–387. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1525/can.2005.20.3.362 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/can.2005.20.3.362

Gil-Bazo, M.T., and Guild, E., 2021. The Right to Asylum. In: C. Costello, M. Foster, and J. McAdam, eds. The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law [online]. Oxford University Press, 867–882. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0049 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0049

il Fatto Quotidiano, 2019. Sea Watch, la Corte europea dei Diritti dell’uomo: “Sì assistenza dei migranti a bordo, no alla richiesta di sbarco”. Il Fatto Quotidiano [online], 29 January. Available at: https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/01/29/sea-watch-la-corte-europea-dei-diritti-delluomo-si-assistenza-a-bordo-no-alla-richiesta-di-sbarco/4933936/

Kennedy, D., 1973. Legal formality. The journal of legal studies [online], 2(2), 351–398. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1086/467502 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/467502

Kennedy, D., 2002. The critique of rights in critical legal studies. Left legalism/left critique [online], 178, 216–227. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822383871-006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11hpn4c.9

Kukathas, C., 2016. Are Refugees Special? In: S. Fine and L. Ypi, eds., Migration in Political Theory [online]. Oxford University Press, 249–268. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199676606.003.0012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199676606.003.0012

Lorde, A., 1984. Sister Outsider. Toronto: The Crossing Press.

Mann, I., 2020. The Right to Perform Rescue at Sea: Jurisprudence and Drowning. German Law Journal [online], 21(special issue 3), 598–619. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2020.30 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2020.30

McAdam, J., 2021. Displacement in the Context of Climate Change and Disasters. In: C. Costello, M. Foster and J. McAdam, eds., The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law [online]. Oxford University Press, 832–847. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0047 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198848639.003.0047

McLoughlin, D., 2016. Post-Marxism and the Politics of Human Rights: Lefort, Badiou, Agamben, Rancière. Law and Critique [online], 27(3), 303–321. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-016-9177-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-016-9177-0

Moreno-Lax, V., and Giuffré, M., 2017. The Rise of Consensual Containment: From “Contactless Control” to “Contactless Responsibility” for Forced Migration Flows. In: S.S. Juss, ed., Research Handbook on International Refugee Law. Cheltenham/Northampton: Edward Elgar, 82–108.

Morris, R.C., 2007. Legacies of Derrida: Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology [online], 36, 355–389. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.36.081406.094357 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.36.081406.094357

Rajagopal, B., 1998. Locating the Third World in Cultural Geography. Third World Legal Studies [online], 15(1), 1–20. Available at: http://scholar.valpo.edu/twls/vol15/iss1/2

Rancière, J., 2004. Who Is the Subject of the Rights of Man? The South Atlantic Quarterly [online], 103(2), 297–310. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-103-2-3-297 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-103-2-3-297

Rancière, J., 2010. Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics [online]. London: Bloomsbury. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472547378.ch-001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472547378.ch-001

Rothberg, M., 2019. The Implicated Subject: Beyond Victims and Perpetrators [online]. Stanford University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503609600 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503609600

Sanfilippo, A., 2021. La corte EDU adotta misure provvisorie contro Polonia e Lettonia. IARI [online], 5 October. https://iari.site/2021/10/05/la-corte-edu-adotta-misure-provvisorie-contro-polonia-e-lettonia/

Santos, B. S., 2020. Toward a New Legal Common Sense: Law, Globalization, and Emancipation, 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316662427. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316662427

Santos, B.S., 2005. The counter-hegemonic use of law in the struggle for a globalization from below. Anales de la Cátedra Francisco Suárez, 39, 421–474.

Shachar, A., and Hirschl, R., 2007. Citizenship as Inherited Property. Political Theory [online], 35(3), 253–287. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591707299808 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591707299808

Sharma, N., 2020. Home Rule: National Sovereignty and the Separation of Natives and Migrants [online]. Durham: Duke University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478002451 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478002451

Trevisanut, S., 2014. Is there a right to be rescued at sea? A constructive view. Questions of International Law [online], 1, 3–15. Available at: https://www.qil-qdi.org/is-there-a-right-to-be-rescued-at-sea-a-constructive-view/

Trubek, D.M., 1984. Where the Action Is: Critical Legal Studies and Empiricism. Stanford Law Review [online], 36(1/2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1228692 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1228692

Young, I.M., 2006. Responsibility and Global Justice: A Social Connection Model. Social Philosophy and Policy [online], 23(01), 102. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052506060043 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052506060043

Zirulia, S., and Cancellaro, F., 2019. Caso Sea Watch: cosa ha detto e cosa non ha detto la Corte di Strasburgo nella decisione sulle misure provvisorie. Diritto Penale Contemporaneo [online], 26 June. Available at: https://archiviodpc.dirittopenaleuomo.org/d/6760-cosa-ha-detto-e-cosa-non-ha-detto-la-corte-di-strasburgo-sul-caso-sea-watch

Zumbansen, P., 2010. Transnational legal pluralism. Transnational Legal Theory [online], 1(2), 141–189. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/20414005.2010.11424506 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20414005.2010.11424506

Zumbansen, P., 2019. Transnational Law as Socio-Legal Theory and Critique: Prospects for “Law and Society” in a Divided World. Buffalo Law Review [online], 67(3), 909–960. Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/buffalolawreview/vol67/iss3/

Published

30-07-2024

How to Cite

Santer, K. O. and Gennari, L. (2024) “Counter-hegemonic uses of law in struggles for freedom of movement in the Central Mediterranean”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 14(4), pp. 1126–1147. doi: 10.35295/osls.iisl.1921.