Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mainstream Humanitarian Organizations Depoliticizing the Border Management System

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Political-Humanitarian Borderwork on the Southern European Border

Part of the book series: Mobility & Politics ((MPP))

  • 31 Accesses

Abstract

Most of the discourses and practices carried out by mainstream third-sector organizations (TSOs) countered the tightening of border management. However, they remained within the legal framework preexisting the reinforcement of border policies. TSOs’ interventions focused on ensuring that the state respects the rights of those who are already entitled to them at least in principle. From this perspective, the TSOs’ borderwork did not promote a radical political agenda. The TSOs’ emphasis on vulnerability and the focus on asylum seekers’ rights contributed to counter the deterioration of these rights and to contrast the increasingly restrictive turns. However, vulnerability discourses and practices legitimized—and fitted within—the preexisting order based on the distinction between people in need of protection and so-called economic migrants to be rejected. This chapter describes how TSOs fell short of contributing to a radical change of the current border management and how they contributed to the perpetuation of processes of stratification of migrants’ rights, of migrants’ incarceration and of migration securitization.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aas, F. K., & Gundhus, H. O. I. (2015). Policing humanitarian borderlands: Frontex, human rights and the precariousness of life. British Journal of Criminology, 55, 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Agier, M. (2008). Gérer les indésirables: des camps de réfugiés au gouvernement humanitaire. Flammarion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akoka, K. (2016, May 31). Crise des réfugiés ou des politiques d’asile? La vie des idées, College de France. Retrieved from https://laviedesidees.fr/Crise-des-refugies-ou-des-politiques-d-asile.html

  • Ambrosini, M. (2014). Non passa lo straniero? Le politiche migratorie tra sovranità nazionale e diritti umani. Cittadella Editrice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambrosini, M. (2018). Irregular Migration in Southern Europe. Actors, Dynamics and Governance. Palgrave and Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • ASGI. (2019). Le nuove procedure accelerate: lo svilimento del diritto d’asilo. Retrieved from: https://www.asgi.it/notizie/le-nuove-procedure-accelerate-lo-svilimento-del-diritto-di-asilo/

  • ASGI, ActionAid, CILD, Indiewatch. (2018). Scenari di Frontiera: il caso Lampedusa.L’approccio hotspot e le sue possibili evoluzioni alla luce del Decreto legge n. 113/2018.Progetto In Limine. Retrieved from: https://www.asgi.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2018-Lampedusa_scenari-_di_frontiera_versione-corretta.pdf

  • Bartholini, I. (2018). Hotspot system in Italy: Politics of refusal against the economic migrants and their effects. In P. Amaral et al. (Eds.), Migrations: A global welfare challenge. Policies, practices and contemporary vulnerabilities (pp. 43–68). Sello Editorial Corunia Americana, Corporacion Universitaria Americana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bassi, M. (2018). Lampedusa. Dynamics of bordering and ‘encampement’. In T. Caponio, P. Scholten, & R. Zapata-Barrero (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of the governance of migration and diversity in cities (pp. 343–352). Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brändström, A., & Kuipers, S. (2003). From ‘normal incidents’ to political crises: Understanding the selective politicization of policy failures. Government and Opposition, 38(3), 279–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capano, G. (2009). Understanding policy change as an epistemological and theoretical problem. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 11(1), 7–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casas-Cortes, M., Cobarrubias, S., De Genova, N., Garelli, G., Grappi, G., Heller, C., Hess, S., Kasparek, B., Mezzadra, S., Neilson, B., Peano, I., Pezzani, L., Pickles, J., Rahola, F., Riedner, L., Scheel, S., & Tazzioli, M. (2014). New keywords: Migration and borders. Cultural Studies, 29(1), 55–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casey, J. (2011, July). Understanding advocacy: A primer on the policy making role of nonprofit organizations. The City University of New York, Center For Non-Profit Strategy and Management, Working Papers Series. Retrieved from: https://marxe.baruch.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/04/Casey_UnderstandingAdvocacyaPrimeronthePolicyMakingRoleofNonoprofitOrganizations.pdf

  • Cassidy, K. (2018). Where can I get free? Everyday bordering, everyday incarceration. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographies, 44(1), 48–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castañeda, H. (2007). Paradoxes of providing aid: NGOs, medicine, and undocumented migration in Berlin, Germany. PhD Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castelli Gattinara, P., & Zamponi, L. (2020). Politicizing support and opposition to migration in France: The EU asylum policy crisis and direct social activism. Journal of European Integration, 42(5), 625–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chouliaraki, L., & Georgiou, M. (2017). Hospitability: The communicative architecture of humanitarian securitization at Europe’ s borders. Journal of Communication, 67, 159–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CIR, ECRE, Greek Council for Refugees, Dutch Council for Refugees. (2018, July). Strengthening NGO involvement and capacities around EU ‘hotspots’ developments. Update on Augusta and Catania as “non-operational hotspot sites”. Retrieved from: https://www.cir-onlus.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/update_report_cir2.pdf

  • Consolidated Act on Immigration. (1998, July 25). Testo unico delle disposizioni concernenti la disciplina dell'immigrazione e norme sulla condizione dello straniero. Retrieved from: https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/1998/08/18/098G0348/sg

  • Council of Europe. (2018, June). Report to the Italian government on the visit to Italy carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 7 to 13 June 2017. Retrieved from: https://rm.coe.int/16807b6d56

  • Cuttitta, P. (2007). Le monde-frontière. Le contrôle de l’immigration dans l’espace globalisé. Cultures & Conflits, 68, 61–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Genova, N. (2002). Migrant “illegality” and deportability in everyday life. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31, 419–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Genova, N. (2013). Spectacles of migrant ‘illegality’: The scene of exclusion, the obscene of inclusion. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(7), 1180–1198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Jong, S., & Ataç, I. (2017). Demand and deliver: Refugee support organisations in Austria. Cogitatio, Social Inclusion, 5(3), 28–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Della Porta, D., Andreatta, M., & Mosca, L. (2003). Movimenti sociali e sfide globali: politica, antipolitica e nuova politica dopo l’11 settembre. Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, Fascicolo, 1, 43–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dellmuth, L. M., & Tallberg, J. (2017). Advocacy strategies in global governance: Inside versus outside lobbying. Political Studies, 65(3), 705–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DRC. (2017, 31 October). Fundamental Rights and the EU hotspot approach. Danish Refugee Council. Retrieved from: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/fundamental-rights-and-eu-hotspot-approach-october-2017

  • ECRE, ASGI, CIR, AIDA. (2016). The implementation of the Hotspot approach in Italy and Greece. A study. Retrieved from: https://www.ecre.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/HOTSPOTS-Report-5.12.2016..pdf

  • ECRE, ASGI, CIR, AIDA. (2017). Country report: Italy. 2017 update. Asylum Information Database, European Council on Refugees and Exiles. Retrieved from: https://asylumineurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/report-download_aida_it_2017update.pdf

  • ECRE, ASGI, CIR, AIDA. (2018). Country report: Italy. Asylum Information Database, European Council on Refugees and Exiles, 2018 Update. Retrieved from: https://asylumineurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/report-download_aida_it_2018update.pdf

  • European Commission. (2015). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Region. A European Agenda on Migration. Com (2015) 240. Retrieved from: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0240&from=EN

  • Fassin, D. (2010). La Raison humanitaire. Une histoire morale du temps présent. Gallimard Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, I. (2012). The humanitarian condition: Palestinian refugees and the politics of living. Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development, 3(2), 155–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flinders, M., & Wood, M. (2014). Rethinking depoliticisation: Beyond the governmental. Policy & Politics, 42(2), 151–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gazzotti, L., Mouthaan, M., & Natter, K. (2022). Embracing complexity in ‘Southern’ migration governance. Territory, Politics, Governance, 11(4), 625–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geiger, M., & Pécoud, A. (2010). The politics of international migration management. Palgrave and Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Geiger, M., & Pécoud, A. (2013). Disciplining the transnational mobility of people. Palgrave and Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Geiger, M., & Pécoud, A. (2014). International organisations and the politics of migration. Journal of the Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40(6), 865–887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IFRC. (2016, March 25). Emergency Plan of Action operation update Italy: Population movement. Emergency Appeal n. MDRIT002, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Saving lives, changing minds, Operations update n.2. Retrieved from: https://reliefweb.int/report/italy/italy-population-movement-emergency-appeal-n-mdrit002-plan-action-operation-update-n-2

  • Italian Chamber of Deputies. (2016a, January 26). Commissione parlamentare di inchiesta sul sistema di accoglienza e di identificazione, nonché sulle condizioni di trattenimento dei migranti nei centri di accoglienza, nei centri di accoglienza per richiedenti asilo e nei centri di identificazione ed espulsione. Resoconto Stenografico n. 38. Camera dei Deputati. Retrieved from: https://documenti.camera.it/leg17/resoconti/commissioni/stenografici/pdf/69/audiz2/audizione/2016/01/26/leg.17.stencomm.data20160126.U1.com69.audiz2.audizione.0038.pdf

  • Italian Chamber of Deputies. (2016b, January 13). Commissione parlamentare di inchiesta sul sistema di accoglienza e di identificazione, nonché sulle condizioni di trattenimento dei migranti nei centri di accoglienza, nei centri di accoglienza per richiedenti asilo e nei centri di identificazione ed espulsione. Resoconto Stenografico n. 36. Camera dei Deputati. Retrieved from: https://documenti.camera.it/leg17/resoconti/commissioni/stenografici/pdf/69/audiz2/audizione/2016/01/13/leg.17.stencomm.data20160113.U1.com69.audiz2.audizione.0036.pdf

  • Italian Chamber of Deputies. (2020, July 9). Il decreto legislativo n. 142 del 2015 (cd. decreto accoglienza). Camera dei Deputati. Retrieved from: https://temi.camera.it/leg18/post/il_decreto_legislativo_n__142_del_2015__cd__decreto_accoglienza_.html

  • Jeandesboz, J., & Pallister-Wilkins, P. (2014). Crisis, enforcement and control at the EU borders. In A. Lindley (Ed.), Crisis and migration: Critical perspectives (pp. 115–135). Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kofman, E. (2002). Contemporary European migrations, civic stratification and citizenship. Political Geography, 21, 1035–1054.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korkut, U., Terlizzi, A., & Gyollai, D. (2020). Migration controls in Italy and Hungary: From conditionalized to domesticized humanitarianism at the EU borders. Journal of Language and Politics, 19(3), 391–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mavelli, L. (2017). Governing populations through the humanitarian government of refugees: Biopolitical care and racism in the European refugee crisis. Review of International Studies, 43(5), 809–832.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mediterranean Hope. (2016, January 13). La protesta degli eritrei a Lampedusa. https://www.mediterraneanhope.com/2016/01/03/la-protesta-degli-eritrei-a-lampedusa/

  • Mezzadra, S. (2015). The proliferation of borders and the right to escape. In Y. Jansen, R. Celikates, & J. de Bloois (Eds.), The irregularization of migration in contemporary Europe. Detention, deportation, drowning (pp. 121–135). Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, D., Turner, J., & Schliehe, A. K. (2018). Conceptualizing the carceral in carceral geography. Progress in Human Geography, 42(5), 666–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Onyx, J., Armitage, L., Dalton, B., Melville, R., Casey, J., & Banks, R. (2010). Advocacy with gloves on: The “manners” of strategy used by some third sector organizations undertaking advocacy in NSW and Queensland. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 21, 41–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oxfam. (2016, June 22). Hotspot Rights Denied. The lack of a legal framework is threatening the rights of migrants reaching the Italian shore. Oxfam Briefing Paper. Retrieved from: https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/614064/bp-hotspots-migrants-italy-220616-en.pdf;jsessionid=BFAD969E552593A09B635398A70C6E73?sequence=1

  • Pallister-Wilkins, P. (2018). Médecins Avec Frontères and the making of a humanitarian borderscape. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 36(1), 114–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pécoud, A. (2015). Depoliticising migration: Global governance and international migration narratives. Palgrave and Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perkowski, N. (2016). Deaths, interventions, humanitarianism and human rights in the Mediterranean ‘migration crisis’. Mediterranean Politics, 21(2), 331–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preibisch, K., & Otero, G. (2014). Does citizenship status matter in Canadian agriculture? Workplace health and safety for migrant and immigrant laborers. Rural Sociology, 79(2), 174–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheel, S., & Ratfisch, P. (2014). Refugee protection meets migration management: UNHCR as a global police of populations. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40(6), 924–941.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stepka, M. (2018). Humanitarian securitization of the 2015 “migration crisis”. Investigating humanitarianism and security in the EU Policy Frames on Operational Involvement in the Mediterranean. In I. Sirkec, E. L. d. F. Castro, & U. S. Sozen (Eds.), Migration policy in crisis (pp. 9–30). Transnational Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tassin, L. (2014). Accueillir les indésirables. Les habitants de Lampedusa à l’épreuve de l’enfermement des étrangers. Genèses 3(96), 110–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tassin, L. (2016). Le mirage des hotspots. Nouveaux concepts et vieilles recettes à Lesbos et Lampedusa. Savoir/Agir, 2(36), 39–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tazzioli, M. (2015). The desultory politics of mobility and the humanitarian-military border in the Mediterranean. Mare Nostrum beyond the sea. Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana, 23(44), 61–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terlizzi, A. (2021). Narratives in power and policy design: The case of border management and external migration controls in Italy. Policy Sciences, 54(4), 749–781.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ticktin, M. (2006). Where ethics and politics meet: The violence of humanitarianism in France. American Ethnologist, 33(1), 33–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ticktin, M. (2014). Transnational humanitarianism. Annual Review of Anthropology, 43, 273–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNHCR. (2015). Relocation: il programma per la redistribuzione di richiedenti asilo stenta a decollare. Retrieved from: https://www.unhcr.org/it/risorse/carta-di-roma/fact-checking/relocation-programma-la-redistribuzione-richiedenti-asilo-stenta-decollare/

  • UNHCR. (2016a). Sei passi verso la soluzione della crisi dei rifugiati in Europa. Retrieved from: https://www.unhcr.org/it/notizie-storie/notizie/unhcr-passi-verso-la-soluzione-della-crisi-dei-rifugiati-europa/

  • UNHCR. (2016b, December). Better protecting refugees in the EU and globally. Retrieved from: https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/58385d4e4.pdf

  • UNHCR. (2016c, January 13). Europe’s refugee emergency response. Update #17. Retrieved from: https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/46696

  • Van Dessel, J., & Pécoud, A. (2020, April). A NGO’s dilemma: Rescuing migrants at sea or keeping them in their place? Retrieved from: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centrecriminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2020/04/ngos-dilemma

  • Van Houtum, H., & Pijpers, R. (2007). The European Union as a gated community: The two-faced border and immigration regime of the EU. Antipode, 39(2), 291–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandevoordt, R. (2019). Subversive humanitarianism: Rethinking refugee solidarity through grass-roots initiatives. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 38, 245–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandevoordt, R., & Verschraegen, G. (2019). The European Refugee Controversy: Civil Solidarity, Cultural Imaginaries and Political Change. Cogitatio, Social Inclusion, 7(2), 48–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan-Williams, N. (2015). We are not animals! Humanitarian border security and zoopolitical spaces in Europe. Political Geography, 45, 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verschuere, B., & De Corte, J. (2015). Nonprofit advocacy under a third-party government regime: Cooperation or conflict? VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 26, 222–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walters, W. (2006). Border/Control. European Journal of Social Theory, 9(2), 187–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, S. (2011). The “human” as referent object? Humanitarianism as securitization. Security Dialogue, 42(1), 3–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zetter, R. (2007). More labels, fewer refugees: Remaking the refugee label in an era of globalization. Journal of Refugee Studies, 20(2), 172–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, Political and Social Sciences, Sorbonne Paris North University, Paris, France

    Roberto Calarco

  2. Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Roberto Calarco

Authors
  1. Roberto Calarco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto Calarco .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Calarco, R. (2024). Mainstream Humanitarian Organizations Depoliticizing the Border Management System. In: Political-Humanitarian Borderwork on the Southern European Border. Mobility & Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40504-4_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation