On the Margins of Protection: Challenging the Discourse on the Refugee Crisis

In the summer of 2015, an ‘European refugee crisis’ hit the world, as thousands of desperate Syrian refugees seeking safety and survival tried to reach the borders of Europe. This called for a re-evaluation of the global protection mechanism for refugees and migrants, and under the aegis of the UN, two new global compacts, a Global Compact on Refugees and a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, were signed in 2018. On the Margins of Protection critiques the global protection regime and connects geopolitics in the Global North, their asylum policies, and dislocations in the Global South, highlighting how it all functions to serve the needs of late capitalism. The book also focuses on newly emerging and technologically advanced bordering strategies, such as offshore detention techniques and hotspots, often located outside the state where refugees seek asylum. A central theme of the volume is the emerging cracks in the protection regime along the lines of race, religion, and gender. The authors show that while women constitute near about 49 per cent of the world’s refugee population, the existing protection regime often ignores the gendered and racialised nature of migration.