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Making Claims for Migrant Workers: Human Rights and Citizenship

Fudge, Judy (2014) Making Claims for Migrant Workers: Human Rights and Citizenship. Citizenship Studies, 18 (1). pp. 29-45. ISSN 1362-1025. E-ISSN 1469-3593. (doi:10.1080/13621025.2014.865894) (KAR id:44226)

Abstract

Migrant workers claims for greater protection in a globalized world are typically expressed either in the idiom of international human rights or citizenship. Instead of contrasting these two normative frames, the paper explores the extent to which human rights and citizenship discourses intersect when it comes to claims by migrant workers. An analysis of the international human and labour rights instruments that are specifically designed for migrant workers reveals how neither discourse questions the assumption of territorial state sovereignty. Drawing upon sociological and political approaches to human rights claims, I evaluate the Arendtian-inspired critique of international human rights, which is that they ignore the very basis ‘right to have rights’. In doing so, I discuss the different dimensions of citizenship and conclude that international rights can be used by migrant workers to assert right claims that reinforce a conception of citizenship that, although different from national citizenship, has the potential to address their distinctive social location.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/13621025.2014.865894
Uncontrolled keywords: migrant, human rights, citizenship, employment, international law
Subjects: K Law > K Law (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > Kent Law School
Depositing User: Sian Robertson
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2014 12:17 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Dec 2022 01:42 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/44226 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Fudge, Judy.

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