Thinking about Protecting the Vulnerable When Thinking about Immigration: Is There a ‘Responsibility to Protect’ in Immigration Regimes?
| Author | Christine Straehle |
| Published date | 01 April 2012 |
| Date | 01 April 2012 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.3366/jipt.2012.0036 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THINKING ABOUT PROTECTING THE VULNERABLE
WHEN THINKING ABOUT IMMIGRATION: IS THERE
A ‘RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT’
IN IMMIGRATION REGIMES?
CHRISTINE STRAEHLE
Abstract: This paper analyses the ‘responsibility to protect’ (RtoP) from a
moral cosmopolitan perspective. It argues, first, that RtoP postulates a remedial
responsibility on the part of those nations that have the means and capacity to
effectively protect individuals against vulnerability and to provide for the means
of human security. Second, the paper explainsthat human security implies access
to human development, including access to social and economic rights. Finally,
it argues that developed nations can discharge their remedial responsibilities
towards those who lack social and economic rights by adopting just immigration
regimes, part of which can be based on temporary foreign labour programs that
allow individuals access to the economic opportunities, thus providing them with
means to establish economic security. The paper thus argues for an expansion of
the interpretation of RtoP.
Keywords:Global justice, human security, immigration, responsibility to protect,
temporary foreign worker programs, vulnerability
Cosmopolitan political theorists propose that we should accept responsibilities
beyond the borders of our nation-states. These duties, they argue, are duties of
justice – they are owed to others as an expression of the equal moral concern
every person deserves.1One such duty that has seemingly been accepted over
the last few years in international documents and practice is the ‘Responsibility
to Protect’ (RtoP): the duty of world governments to protect those whose
governments fail in their protectiveduties. This duty, I will argue, is motivated by
the moral principle that requires individuals and their collective representatives,
i.e. state governments, to protect vulnerable individuals. To be vulnerable means
that an individual is in very real and concrete danger of suffering harm without
Journal of International Political Theory, 8(1–2) 2012, 159–171
DOI: 10.3366/jipt.2012.0036
© Edinburgh University Press 2012
www.eupjournals.com/jipt
159
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