Paving the Way for an Institutional Approach towards an Ethical Migration Regime

• Author: Johan Rochel
• Pages: 51-70

ANCILLAIURIS(anci.ch)2013:51–InternationalLawandEthics 51

PavingtheWay foranInstitutionalApproachtowardsanEthicalMigration

Regime

Abstract

Inthinkingaboutmoralprinciplesforaninternationalregimeonmigration,internationallawyersand

politicaltheoristswishingtoprovidepracticalguidanceshouldadoptaspecificmethodologicalap

proachsuitableforinternationalinstitutions.Thispaperproposesamethodologicaltoolentitled“nor

mativereflexivedialogue”tosupporttheoristsindealingwiththecurrentinstitutionalrealitieswhile

developingandjustifyingmoralprinciplesthatinternationalinstitutionsshouldfollow.Afterdescrib

ingthebasicfeaturesofthisapproach,whichlinkslegalanalysiswithmoralreasoning,GATSMode

4willbeusedasanexampleofamethodologicalapproachtogeneratingsomesubstantivemoralprin

ciplesforamigrationregime.

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I. Introduction

Whatmoral2principlesshouldguideaninternationalregimeonmigration?Anyone

interestedinfindingamorallyjustifiedwaytodealwiththeglobalchallengeofmigration

willconsiderthistobeoneoftheessentialquestions.Surprisingly,thisisnottheissuepolit

icaltheoristsinterestedinmigrationethicshavebeenspendingmuchtimeon.Whileithas

beenponderedbysocialandpoliticalscientistsaswellasbyinternationallegalscholars,phi

losophersandpoliticaltheoristshavebeenmoreinterestedindiscussingthesovereignstate

anditsclaimtocontrolitsborders.Giventhisfocusofresearch,onemightarguethatallwe

needtodoistransferthesereflectionstotheinternationallevelanddesignthenewmigra

tionregimeaccordingly.

Inarguingagainstthissimplisticview,themainobjectiveofthiscontributionistopres

entamethodologicalapproachonhowtothinkaboutmoralprinciplesforinternational

legalinstitutions,inparticularinthecontextofaninternationalregimeformigration.Its

mainclaimisthatindecidingonthemoralprinciplestobeusedinreforminganinterna

tionalregime,aspecificallyinstitutionalapproachmustbeemployed.Withoutit,aphilo

sophicalinvestigationrunstheriskofbeingunabletoprovidepracticalguidanceinthepro

cessofcreatingorreforminganinternationalinstitution,which,itisargued,itshoulddo.I

willproposethe“normativereflexivedialogue”asamethodologicaltooltohelpachievethis

goal.

1

2Unlessotherwisespecified,“moral”and“ethical”areusedinterchangeablyhere.

byJohanRochel1

1ThisresearchhasbeenmadepossiblebythegenerousfinancialsupportreceivedfromtheSwissNational

ScienceFoundationfortheProDocprogram“FoundationsofEuropeanandInternationalLaw”

(www.unifr.ch/europrodoc/).Fortheircriticalcomments,IwouldliketothankCharlotteSieber(NCCR

“TradeRegulation”),AlainZysset(ProDoc“FoundationsofEuropeanandInternationalLaw”),IvoWalli

mann(UniversityofZurich),andMichelBourban(UniversityofLausanne).

JohanRochel–PavingtheWayforanInstitutionalApproachtowardsanEthicalMigrationRegime

52 ANCILLAIURIS(anci.ch)2013:51–InternationalLawandEthics

Inlinewiththismethodologicalargument,thispaperaimstomakeacontributiontothe

philosophicalandlegaldebatesontheinternationalaspectsofmigrationethics.Startingfrom

anationallyfocuseddebate,itrecommendscautiousnessintakingthedifferentarguments

relatedtomigrationethicstotheinternationallevel.TakingGATSMode4asapractical

example,itwillbeshowninactionhowthismethodologicalwayofthinkingcouldhelpus

thinkofmoralguidelineswithinandforaspecificinstitutionalsetting,i.e.aninternational

migrationregime.InthecourseofdiscussingGATSMode4,thispaperpresentssomesub

stantiveargumentswithrespecttothemoralguidelinesthatshouldinformthedebate.

Thepaperisdividedintotwomainparts.Thefirstpartprovidesabriefoverviewofthe

philosophicaldebateonmigrationbeforearguingforadistinctionbetweenthreeethically

relevantissuesonmigrationethics.Accordingly,itwillbearguedthatadistinctinstitutional

methodologicalapproachisneededtodealwiththequestionofwhatprinciplesaninterna

tionalregimemustuphold.Thisisfollowedbyadescriptionofthefeaturesofthenormative

reflexivedialogue.Buildingonthismethodologicaldiscussion,thesecondpartdealswith

GATSMode4asexampleofaninternationalmigrationregime.Inusingthenormativereflex

ivedialogue,itaimstoshowwhatmoralprinciplescouldbeusedinassessingandreforming

thisregime.

Beforeproceedingfurther,animportantcaveatneedstobemade.Thiscontribution

focusesonlegallabormigration,namelytheregularmovementofpeopleforemployment

purposes.Itwouldbeveryinterestingtofurtherdeveloptheargumentspresentedhereby

adoptingacomparativeapproach,focusingonthedevelopmentoftherefugeeregimeandits

underlyingethicalrationales.Contrarytothe1951GenevaConventionandits1967Protocol,

theethicaldiscussiononlabormigrationattheinternationallevelisstillverymuchinlimbo,

offeringimportantandchallengingopportunitiesintermsofthinkingaboutitsnormative

foundations.3

II. Onthewaytoanethicalinternationalregime

A. Mappingthedebateontheethicsofmigration

Ethicsofmigrationistobeunderstoodhereasasetofreflectionsthat,takentogether,rep

resentamorallycogentanswertonormativechallengesrelatedtothephenomenonofmigra

tion.Inthecurrentphilosophicalliterature,migrationismostlytreatedasapolicyquestion

forliberaldemocraticaffluentstates.4Strictlyspeaking,itisanethicsofimmigration.Inthe

wordsofRaffaeleMarchetti,thefocushasbeenplacedonthe“receiver”perspectiveandits

correspondingmoralchallenges.5Inthiscontext,theissueofamorallyjustifiedimmigration

3ThetwoworksofreferenceforanormativeapproachontherefugeeregimeremainMatthewGibney,The

EthicsandPoliticsofAsylum:LiberalDemocracyandtheResponsetoRefugees(2004),andMatthewPrice,

RethinkingAsylum:History,PurposeandLimits(2009).

4Forthesakeofthepresentargument,Ihaveusedtheterm“state”asencompassingtherelevantinstitutions

ofapoliticallyorganizedcommunity.Thepapershouldnotbeunderstoodasbeingonlycompatiblewith

theclassicalnationstate.Inmanyregards,theEU–asacommunityofnationstates–facessimilarmoral

challenges.

5RaffaeleMarchetti,Towa rdaWorldMigratoryRegime,IndianaJournalofGlobalLegalStudies,15(2)(2008),

471–487,477.