INTRODUCTION

As this study is concerned with responsibility for violations of the socio-economic rights of people on the move, it takes their plight as its starting point. This chapter starts by depicting the violations of the socio-economic rights of people on the move contained in the Global South as a result of policies to stem migration fl ows from the Global South to the Global North. Section 2 thus illustrates how their rights to an adequate standard of living, health, education, work and social security are often violated when they are contained in partner States in the Global South. Section 3 then turns to migration control policies themselves: it describes why and how sponsor States in the Global North increasingly cooperate with partner States in the Global South to implement cooperative migration control policies, and clarifies the relation between the violations of the socio-economic rights of people on the move in partner States and migration control.

By discussing both the extent to which the socio-economic rights of people on the move are realised and the conduct of the various States involved, this chapter provides the backdrop for the legal analysis in the rest of this study. It first shows that, as a matter of empirical reality, the socio-economic rights of people on the move in partner States are often violated, which raises the question that this study ultimately seeks to answer: to what extent and how do these violations give rise to States’ international responsibility? The empirical analysis also reveals that sponsor States’ desire to avoid obligations towards people on the move and evade responsibility for their plight plays an important role in the development of cooperative migration control. Finally, it addresses the different forms of cooperation between sponsor and partner States. Indeed, the various ways in which States cooperate to stem migration flows is not only relevant for the realisation of the socio-economic rights of people on the move but also for determining the obligations and responsibility of the various States involved. Therefore, clarifying the conduct of each State is relevant in order to answer the research questions that this study seeks to address.