The Price of Rights: Regulating International Labor Migration - Hardcover

Ruhs, Martin

 
9780691132914: The Price of Rights: Regulating International Labor Migration
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0691132917 ISBN 13: 9780691132914
Verlag: Princeton University Press, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Many low-income countries and development organizations are calling for greater liberalization of labor immigration policies in high-income countries. At the same time, human rights organizations and migrant rights advocates demand more equal rights for migrant workers. The Price of Rights shows why you cannot always have both.


Examining labor immigration policies in over forty countries, as well as policy drivers in major migrant-receiving and migrant-sending states, Martin Ruhs finds that there are trade-offs in the policies of high-income countries between openness to admitting migrant workers and some of the rights granted to migrants after admission. Insisting on greater equality of rights for migrant workers can come at the price of more restrictive admission policies, especially for lower-skilled workers. Ruhs advocates the liberalization of international labor migration through temporary migration programs that protect a universal set of core rights and account for the interests of nation-states by restricting a few specific rights that create net costs for receiving countries.



The Price of Rights analyzes how high-income countries restrict the rights of migrant workers as part of their labor immigration policies and discusses the implications for global debates about regulating labor migration and protecting migrants. It comprehensively looks at the tensions between human rights and citizenship rights, the agency and interests of migrants and states, and the determinants and ethics of labor immigration policy.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Martin Ruhs is associate professor of political economy at the University of Oxford, where he is also director of studies in economics at the Department for Continuing Education; senior researcher at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society; and a fellow of Kellogg College.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

"This book lays down some challenging ideas on how we should think about the rights of migrants and needs to be read by everyone concerned with these issues."--Don Flynn, director of the Migrants' Rights Network

"This is a carefully researched book that starkly shows the trade-offs involved between extending more rights to migrants, versus extending more opportunities to enable people to take advantage of the large gains in income possible through international migration. A first-rate contribution to current policy and academic debates."--David McKenzie, lead economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank

"In this excellent book, Martin Ruhs presents a fresh analysis of the reasons why many countries, whether they be high or low income, restrict the rights of migrant workers. His carefully researched volume will be of great interest to policymakers and migration experts across the globe."--Frank Laczko, International Organization for Migration

"This may be the most important book on migration in the last decade. Focusing on the trade-offs between openness to more migration and limitations on migrants' rights, Martin Ruhs tackles one of the fundamental challenges of the twenty-first century: how to resolve the tensions between national security and human rights."--Khalid Koser, Geneva Centre for Security Policy

"In analyzing the trade-off between liberalizing international labor migration and extending social and economic rights for migrants, this book moves the debate about migrant rights from ideals to realities. It is a must-read for those working in the fields of human rights, development, globalization, and international governance, as well as for specialists and organizations dealing with migration-related issues."--Philip Martin, University of California, Davis

"While it is not easy to write a forcefully argued book about the rights of migrant workers, Ruhs succeeds because he opts for a strong, pragmatic approach. He clearly commands a broad and diverse literature, and he makes his case with extensive knowledge and an array of empirical studies about a range of countries."--Saskia Sassen, Columbia University and author ofTerritory, Authority, Rights

"This compelling and cogently argued book addresses an important matter, namely the conditions affecting the rights of labor migrants. Where much of the research on rights and citizenship focuses on the developed world, Ruhs rightly expands the scope to include the Persian Gulf states, as well as developing societies such as Malaysia and Indonesia."--Roger Waldinger, University of California, Los Angeles

Aus dem Klappentext

"This book lays down some challenging ideas on how we should think about the rights of migrants and needs to be read by everyone concerned with these issues."--Don Flynn, director of the Migrants' Rights Network

"This is a carefully researched book that starkly shows the trade-offs involved between extending more rights to migrants, versus extending more opportunities to enable people to take advantage of the large gains in income possible through international migration. A first-rate contribution to current policy and academic debates."--David McKenzie, lead economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank

"In this excellent book, Martin Ruhs presents a fresh analysis of the reasons why many countries, whether they be high or low income, restrict the rights of migrant workers. His carefully researched volume will be of great interest to policymakers and migration experts across the globe."--Frank Laczko, International Organization for Migration

"This may be the most important book on migration in the last decade. Focusing on the trade-offs between openness to more migration and limitations on migrants' rights, Martin Ruhs tackles one of the fundamental challenges of the twenty-first century: how to resolve the tensions between national security and human rights."--Khalid Koser, Geneva Centre for Security Policy

"In analyzing the trade-off between liberalizing international labor migration and extending social and economic rights for migrants, this book moves the debate about migrant rights from ideals to realities. It is a must-read for those working in the fields of human rights, development, globalization, and international governance, as well as for specialists and organizations dealing with migration-related issues."--Philip Martin, University of California, Davis

"While it is not easy to write a forcefully argued book about the rights of migrant workers, Ruhs succeeds because he opts for a strong, pragmatic approach. He clearly commands a broad and diverse literature, and he makes his case with extensive knowledge and an array of empirical studies about a range of countries."--Saskia Sassen, Columbia University and author ofTerritory, Authority, Rights

"This compelling and cogently argued book addresses an important matter, namely the conditions affecting the rights of labor migrants. Where much of the research on rights and citizenship focuses on the developed world, Ruhs rightly expands the scope to include the Persian Gulf states, as well as developing societies such as Malaysia and Indonesia."--Roger Waldinger, University of California, Los Angeles

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

THE PRICE OF RIGHTS

REGULATING INTERNATIONAL LABOR MIGRATION

By MARTIN RUHS

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2013 Princeton University Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-13291-4

Contents

Acknowledgments............................................................vii
Abbreviations..............................................................xi
Chapter 1 The Rights of Migrant Workers: Reframing the Debate.............1
Chapter 2 The Human Rights of Migrant Workers: Why Do So Few Countries 
Care?......................................................................		13
Chapter 3 Nation-States, Labor Immigration, and Migrant Rights: What Can 
We Expect?.................................................................		26
Chapter 4 An Empirical Analysis of Labor Immigration Programs in 
Forty-Six Countries........................................................		53
Chapter 5 Regulating the Admission and Rights of Migrant Workers: Policy 
Rationales in High-Income Countries........................................		91
Chapter 6 Labor Emigration and Rights Abroad: The Perspectives of 
Migrants and Their Countries of Origin.....................................		122
Chapter 7 The Ethics of Labor Immigration Policy..........................154
Chapter 8 The Price of Rights: What Next for Human Rights–Based 
Approaches to International Labor Migration?...............................		187
Appendix 1 Tables A.1–10...................................................201
Appendix 2 Overview of Openness Indicators.................................217
Appendix 3 Overview of Migrant Rights Indicators...........................221
References.................................................................227
Index......................................................................243


CHAPTER 1

The Rights of Migrant Workers

Reframing the Debate


In 1990, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) adopted theInternational Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All MigrantWorkers and Members of Their Families (CMW). It stipulates a verycomprehensive set of civil, political, economic, and social rights for migrants,including those living and/or working abroad illegally. Hailed asa major achievement in the struggle for improving the rights of migrants,the CMW has become a cornerstone of the human rights-based approachto regulating labor immigration advocated by many national and internationalorganizations concerned with the protection of migrant workers.Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, described the CMW as "avital part of efforts to combat exploitation of migrant workers and theirfamilies."

In practice, ratification of the 1990 convention has been disappointing,both in absolute and relative terms. Although the CMW was introducedmore than twenty years ago, so far fewer than fifty countries have ratifiedit—and the great majority of these countries are predominantly migrantsending rather than migrant receiving. This makes the CMW the leastratified convention among all the major international human rights treaties.It has a quarter of the ratifications of the Convention on the Rightsof the Child (passed a year before the CMW) and less than half of theratifications of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities(passed sixteen years after the CMW). Despite having signed generalhuman rights treaties, most nation-states, especially major immigrationcountries, are clearly reluctant to ratify international conventions thatlimit their discretion and ability to restrict the rights of migrants livingand working in their territories.

The most cursory review of the rights of migrant workers around theworld confirms that the majority of them, and especially those workingin low-waged jobs, enjoy few of the rights stipulated in internationalconventions. For example, under most existing temporary migrationprograms (TMPs) in North America and Europe, migrants have neitherthe right to free choice of employment nor the access to welfare benefitsgiven to citizens and long-term residents. In many of the Persian GulfStates in the Middle East, which have long admitted significant numbersof migrant workers, the protections of local labor laws do not apply tocertain types of migrant labor. In Singapore, another major employer ofmigrant workers, migrants working in low-waged jobs are officially prohibitedfrom cohabiting with or getting married to a Singaporean citizen.Illegally resident migrants, whose global numbers are substantial,have few rights regardless of what country they are working in (with fewexceptions).


Aims and Approach of the Book

This book analyzes how and why high-income countries restrict the rightsof migrant workers ("migrant rights") as part of their labor immigrationpolicies and discusses the implications for policy debates about regulatinglabor migration and protecting migrants. It engages with theoretical debatesabout the tensions between human rights and citizenship rights, theagency and interests of migrants and states, and the determinants andethics of labor immigration policy. The empirical analysis of the book isglobal, and includes an examination of the characteristics and key featuresof labor immigration policies and restrictions of migrant rights inover forty high-income countries as well as in-depth analysis of policydrivers in major migrant-receiving and migrant-sending countries.

Based on this theoretical and empirical analysis, the book aims to contributeto normative and policy debates about the rights that migrantworkers should have when working abroad. In particular, the book exploreswhether there is a case for advocating a limited set of "core rights"for migrant workers rather than the comprehensive set of rights demandedby the CMW, and if so, what these core rights should be, andwhat implications might ensue for human rights-based approaches tointernational labor migration. As these research questions suggest, thebook separates hard-nosed political economy analysis of the determinantsof migrant rights in practice (i.e., what is current reality) from theequally important normative discussion of what rights migrant workersshould have from a moral/ethical point of view.

Many UN agencies and other international and national organizationsconcerned with migrant workers have responded to the widespread restrictionsof migrant rights by emphasizing that migrant rights are humanrights that are universal, indivisible, and inalienable; they derive from acommon humanity and must be protected regardless of citizenship. Thekey argument and starting point of this book is that we need to reframeas well as expand current debates and analyses of migrant rights by complementingconversations about the human rights of migrants with a systematic,dispassionate analysis of the interests and roles of nation-statesin granting and restricting the rights of migrant workers. This is becausethe rights of migrant workers not only have intrinsic value as underscoredby human rights approaches but also play an important instrumental rolein shaping the effects of international labor migration for receiving countries,migrants,...

„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Verlag
Princeton University Press
Erscheinungsdatum
2013
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0691132917
ISBN 13 
9780691132914
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Auflage
1
Anzahl der Seiten
254
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

Weitere beliebte Ausgaben desselben Titels

9780691166001: The Price of Rights: Regulating International Labor Migration

Vorgestellte Ausgabe

ISBN 10:  0691166005 ISBN 13:  9780691166001
Verlag: Princeton University Press, 2015
Softcover