International refugee norm sabotage: An analysis of anti-migration groups in the UK

Abstract

The 2015 Refugee Crisis and 2016 Brexit referendum created a window of opportunity for anti-migration groups to strategically advance restrictive immigration agenda in the United Kingdom (UK). In recent years, the UK has introduced immigration policy and legislation restricting numerous basic rights for refugee protection. Considering the explicit aim to create barriers for asylum claimants and reduce refugee rights, this article investigates how UK anti-migration groups contest established international refugee norms. A norm sabotage framework of discursive persuasion, refuting, resisting, and obfuscating mechanisms is applied to analyse how refugee norms of non-refoulement, non-penalisation, non-criminalisation, and non-detention are undermined by UK anti-migration groups. The analysis demonstrates UK anti-migration groups using a norm sabotage strategy to undermine international refugee norms and identifies radical right populist (RRP) ideology as a tool used as moral and political leverage to defend restricting refugee rights. The findings reflect on the Nationality and Borders Act, the Rwanda Partnership, and the Illegal Migration Act which challenge international obligations regarding refugee rights in the UK. IR literature often focuses on how norm contestation legitimises norms, this case study contributes a deeper understanding of how norm saboteur strategies are used by domestic actors to challenge and undermine the legitimacy of established international norms within the context of anti-migration activism targeting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.