The EU Migration System and Global Justice: An Introduction

Abstract

The so-called migration crisis of 2015 and the policies undertaken in Europe thereafter have posed a number of normative and ethical issues: to what extent can the policies used to cope with the phenomenon be reasonably deemed ‘just’? Just for whom? Does the EU’s management of migration live up to the principles of global justice? And which understanding of global justice? Ultimately, what are the political and normative implications for the EU which has long been described as a sui generis polity? This introduction sets the stage for this analysis, clarifying the characteristics of what can be labelled as the EU Migration System of Governance, and spelling out three main understandings of global justice, each with its own justice claims and policy prescriptions. The current role of the EU in the management of migration, it is here claimed, is the result of the compounded nature of the system of governance and of the friction among competing justice claims. The compass to navigate such uncharted ethical waters can only be found in the coherent respect for human rights.