Assembling Borders, Territory, and Human Rights in Migration Management Policies

Abstract

The EU is facing a migration management dilemma. The compromise between inclusion and exclusion developed by the European Court of Human Rights failed to guarantee human rights obligations and security challenges. This situation has put pressure on the member states overlooking the Mediterranean Sea namely Italy, Greece and Spain. In this scenario, these member states have attempted to pursue strategies to contain the phenomenon assuring both human rights and security. The paper analyses two different strategies developed by the Italian government in the last five years to respond to the Libyan migration crisis. These policies are the Mare Nostrum policies and the Minniti policies. These policies are designed around three components: Borders; Territory; Human Rights. The paper suggests that these pillars are assembled differently at different times to achieve specific policy goals. In doing so, the normative assemblage could be instrumental to either an inclusive or an exclusive policy.