Facts, Narratives and Migration: Tackling Disinformation at the European and UN Level of Governance

Abstract

This chapter analyses migration as a political question for the EU and in global governance. It outlines the interplay and tension between sovereign and decentralised power and the role of facts and narratives in this interplay. The aim is to discuss the possible political shift that is ongoing both as a United Nations led and a European driven effort. This means the initiatives to tackle migration as a political issue through recognition of framing, facts, accurate information, data and communications tools as key features in the debates. It is also a shift to acknowledging, directly and indirectly, that states, as the main subjects of international law and the ones with the responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and can be held more accountable for their actions in tackling e.g. disinformation and radical right discourses against human rights. The chapter illustrates this through selected cases, such as recent initiatives of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency and the UN Global Compact for Safe and Orderly Migration. The motivation behind the analysis is the way the emergence of the hybrid media space means that it is no longer possible to ignore the contemporary channels of information as crucial sites of power struggle in the politics of migration. This development is, the chapter argues, now an important feature in Europe Union institutional politics and global migration governance.