Edited by Rosemarie Buikema, Antoine Buyse and Antonius C.G.M. Robben

In Cultures, Citizenship and Human Rights the combined analytical efforts of the fields of human rights law, conflict studies, anthropology, history, media studies, gender studies, and critical race and postcolonial studies raise a comprehensive understanding of the discursive and visual mediation of migration and manifestations of belonging and citizenship. More insight into the convergence – but also the tensions – between the cultural and the legal foundations of citizenship, has proven to be vital to the understanding of societies past and present, especially to assess processes of inclusion and exclusion. Citizenship is more than a collection of rights and privileges held by the individual members of a state but involves cultural and historical interpretations, legal contestation and regulation, as well as an active engagement with national, regional, and local state and other institutions about the boundaries of those (implicitly gendered and raced) rights and privileges. Highlighting and assessing the transformations of what citizenship entails today is crucially important to the future of Europe, which both as an idea and as a practical project faces challenges that range from the crisis of legitimacy to the problems posed by mass migration. Many of the issues addressed in this book, however, also play out in other parts of the world, as several of the chapters reflect.

London; New York: Routledge, 2020. 269p.

Edited by Rainer Bauböck

Citizenship is frequently invoked both as an instrument and goal of immigrant integration. Yet, in migration contexts, citizenship also marks a distinction between members and outsiders based on their different relations to particular states. A migration perspective highlights the boundaries of citizenship and political control over entry and exit as well as the fact that foreign residents remain in most countries deprived of core rights of political participation. This book summarizes current theories and empirical research on the legal status and political participation of migrants in European democracies.

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006. 128p.

Edited by Valeria Llobet, Didier Reynaert, Afua Twum-Danso Imoh and Wouter Vandenhole

The field of children’s rights studies is well established and largely dominated by a top-down approach that considers these rights as objective standards requiring implementation in practice or policy. This book argues for a critical perspective which views the area as contested terrain with conflicting normative foundations and traditions. The collection brings together established and rising scholars whose work has been central to not only challenging mainstream children’s rights discourses but also provides alternative pathways to conceptualizing children’s rights. It moves beyond critiques of these dominant discourses and sets out the emerging paradigm of Critical Children’s Rights Studies drawing on contexts in both the Global North and Global South. It proposes new pathways and subjects these to scrutiny, illuminating the importance of contextual situatedness and acknowledging the need to consider researchers’ own positionality when outlining their stance on children’s rights. Containing both empirical and theoretical scholarship, the book will be an essential resource for students, academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the multidisciplinary areas of childhood studies, children’s rights studies and international human rights.

London; New York: Routledge, 2025. 338p.

Edited by Gionathan Lo Mascolo

Inspired by the success of the US Christian Right and the rise of the global far-right, ultraconservative Christians in Europe are joining forces and seek to reshape Europe. By assembling in anti-gender movements and sharing anti-Muslim narratives, they actively influence the political landscape and shape government policies. The contributors offer new perspectives on the protagonists and the entangled networks that work to abolish liberal democracy in Europe behind the scenes. This anthology is the first to bring together case studies on the Christian Right in over 20 European countries, providing a transnational perspective and an accessible insight for clergy, politicians, and academics alike.

Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2023. 388p.

By Danielle N. Boaz

Banning Black Gods is a global examination of the legal challenges faced by adherents of the most widely practiced African-derived religions in the twenty-first century, including Santeria/Lucumi, Haitian Vodou, Candomblé, Palo Mayombe, Umbanda, Islam, Rastafari, Obeah, and Voodoo. Examining court cases, laws, human rights reports, and related materials, Danielle N. Boaz argues that restrictions on African diaspora religious freedom constitute a unique and pervasive form of anti-Black discrimination. Emphasizing that these twenty-first-century cases and controversies are not a new phenomenon but rather a reemergence of colonial-era ideologies and patterns of racially motivated persecution, Boaz focuses each chapter on a particular challenge to Black religious freedom. She examines issues such as violence against devotees, restrictions on the ritual slaughter of animals, limitations on the custodial rights of parents, and judicial refusals to recognize these faiths as protected religions. Boaz introduces new issues that have never been considered as a question of religious freedom before—such as the right of Palo Mayombe devotees to possess remains of the dead—and she brings together controversies that have not been previously regarded as analogous, such as the right to wear headscarves and the right to wear dreadlocks in schools. Framing these issues in comparative perspective and focusing on transnational and transregional issues, Boaz advances our understanding of the larger human rights disputes that country-specific studies can overlook. Original and compelling, this important new book will be welcomed by students and scholars of African diaspora religions and discerning readers interested in learning more about the history of racial discrimination

University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2021. 242p.

Edited byJohannaLonson Stiebert

This book opens out religious studies discussion on spiritual abuse to extend beyond the primary focus on Christian settings and situations. Emphasising the diversity and reach of manifestations of spiritual abuse, it offers snapshots and examples from five major religious traditions. Following a definition of “spiritual abuse” and a qualification of the application of the designation “world religions”, five chapters - each by subject experts - demonstrate that spiritual abuse can be identified in contexts of Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhi(sm). The chapters draw on sacred texts, historical events, religious institutions, practices, or figures particular to each tradition, paying heed to how specific examples can relate to wider, or systemic tendencies. Throughout, there is emphasis on trauma-informed and survivor-centred approaches. Abuse in World Religions (Vol. 1) will appeal to academics of religious studies with interest in rape culture and spiritual abuse, as well as upper-level undergraduates and postgraduates, and religious leaders, or leaders of faith-based organisations, seeking to understand and to confront spiritual abuse and rape culture in their own communities.

London; New York: Routledge, 2025. 103p.

By Clara van den Berg

What became of the upsurge in civic action that saw millions of volunteers rally in support of migrants during the 2015/16 refugee reception crisis in Germany? Clara van den Berg examines the aftermath of that unprecedented mobilization, exploring how pro-refugee communities evolved in Germany. Drawing on interviews, observations, and document analysis, she finds that some pro-refugee communities managed to survive. The study provides fresh insights into how mobilization periods impact the local structure of civil society and its networks, and offers a new perspective on the role of solidarity with refugees and migrants today.

Bielefeld, Germany, transcript Verlag, 2025. 241p.

By Jennifer Anzardo Valdes, et al.

For years, thousands of children have made the difficult decision to flee from their countries with the hope of securing safety and security in the United States. Their reasons for fleeing vary but there are common themes. Many of these children are seeking protection from human trafficking, targeted gang violence in the form of assaults, kidnappings, or extortions, as well as domestic violence and child abuse.

In 2019 alone, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained over 76,000 children. As part of our investigation into the treatment of unaccompanied children and conditions at the facilities at the border, we interviewed and provided legal services to 9,417 of them.

This report is based on these unaccompanied children’s testimonies of being detained at US detention facilities along the southern border. Children were detained in horrific conditions way beyond the 72 hours allowed under US law. Children described being held in frigid rooms, sleeping on concrete floors, being fed frozen food, with little or no access to medical care. Too often, they were subjected to emotional, verbal, and physical abuse by CBP officers.

Miami: Americans for Immigrant Justice,2020 74p.

By Thibaut Girault

This paper looks at the role of smugglers in facilitating migrant movement amid the worsening political and security situation in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Findings reveal that migrants rely on smugglers to bypass occasional border restrictions between members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and to navigate increasingly dangerous routes within Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—three countries that formed the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) in 2023. This reliance on smugglers also comes with significant risks, including greater exposure to exploitation, debt, and corruption— vulnerabilities that are particularly pronounced for women.

The research is based on the responses of 2,674 migrants surveyed by 4Mi between May and August 2024 in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. It compares the experiences of migrants who used smuggler services (n=1,550) with those who did not (n=1,124) to better understand the relationship between smuggler use and migrants’ routes, journey costs, and protection risks.

London/Denmark: Mixed Migration Centre, 2025. 17p.

By The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT)

At least 3 billion people live in contexts highly exposed to the impacts of climate change19 and yet more to non-climatic environmental degradation and disaster. Even if the world meets the currently improbable target of limiting global warming to 1.5 C degrees set out in the Glasgow Climate Pact, extreme weather and environmental degradation will see the deterioration of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity depended on by billions. In climate vulnerable countries, children and future generations, women, the poor (among whom the majority are women), and Indigenous Peoples, are disproportionately impacted.

The international community is expanding its response and financing. Mitigation measures aim to limit the damage by reducing and removing carbon, using regulation (like emissions limits) and technology (like carbon sinks). Adaptation measures seek to help people survive sudden-onset disasters and reconstitute livelihoods undermined by slow-onset processes that degrade soils, rivers and forests.

Additional factors threaten to exacerbate climate damage and undermine mitigation and adaptation strategies. Environmental crimes accelerate the destruction of natural resources and undermine the resilience of affected populations. The economic damage of COVID-19 has intensified competition for resources, increased the precarity of people on low incomes and with insecure migration statuses, and reduced the capacity of states to respond, as does the conflict and instability seen in some climate-vulnerable countries, such as those in the Sahel. Conflict and instability undermine adaptation measures.

This brief explores how climate change, climate-re- lated events, and crimes that affect the environment (environmental crimes) influence trafficking in persons (TIP) and smuggling of migrants (SOM), with special consideration of gender. It draws on expert interviews and a desk review to explore three key questions:

The effects of climate change, climate-related events, and environmental crime on TIP and SOM, and in particular its effects on women, in Part 1. Climate, movement and vulnerability.

How business practices shape exposure to TIP and SOM risk, in Part 2. Climate, industry and exploitation.

Current and emerging responses among policymakers, law enforcement, and civil society, in Part 3. Legal, policy and criminal justice responses.

The case of Bangladesh, a climate vulnerable and origin country for TIP and SOM, and a pioneer in adaptation, in Part 4. Environment and vulnerability in Bangladesh.

The paper concludes with Part 5. Framing the response and lists recommendations.

The analysis takes a human rights-based approach, integrating the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) human rights and gender equality toolkit, which provides practical ways of integrating the protection of rights outlined in the United Na- tions Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and sibling protocols on TIP and SOM into programmatic approaches. In particular, that approaches to countering TIP and SOM should not affect rights outlined under international human rights laws, including the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Vienna: UNODC, 2022. 55p.

By Jennifer M. Chacón

Immigration enforcement in the United States has undergone a revolutionary transformation over the past three decades. Once episodic, border-focused, and generally confined to the efforts of a relatively small federal agency, immigration enforcement is now exceedingly well-funded and integrated deeply into the everyday policing of the interior United States. Not only are federal immigration agents more numerous and ubiquitous in the interior, but immigration enforcement has been integrated into the policing practices of state and local officials who once saw their purview as largely distinct from that of federal immigration enforcement agents. This essay briefly explains these developments, from shortly before the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 through the present day, and assesses their consequences. It includes a brief discussion of the ways states and localities have responded to federal enforcement trends, whether through amplification or constraint.

Daedalus, Winter 2022, at 121.

By Stefano Comino, Giovanni Mastrobuoni, Antonio Nicolò

Do undocumented migrants under report crimes to the police in order to avoid being deported? And do criminals exploit such vulnerability? We address these questions using victimization surveys and administrative data around the 1986 U.S. immigration amnesty. The amnesty allows us to solve two major identification issues that have plagued this literature: migrants’ legal status is endogenous and unobserved.

The results show that the reporting rate of undocumented immigrants is 17 percent, which limits the immigrants’ ability to protect some of their fundamental human rights. However, right after the 1986 amnesty, which disproportionately legalized individuals of Hispanic origin, crime victims of Hispanic origin show enormous improvements in reporting behavior. The implied increase in the reporting rate by amnesty applicants is close to 20 percentage points.

Journal of Policy Analysis and ManagementVolume 39, Issue 4, Sep 2020, Pages879-1288

By Elisa Jácome

Mistrust between immigrants and the police may undermine law enforcement’s ability to keep communities safe. This paper documents that immigration policies affect an individual’s willingness to report crime. I analyze the 2015 Priority Enforcement Program, which focused immigration enforcement on individuals convicted of serious crimes and shifted resources away from immigration-related offenses. I use data from the Dallas Police Department that include a complainant’s ethnicity to show that the number of violent and property crimes reported to the police by Hispanics increased by 4 percent after the introduction of PEP. These results suggest that reducing enforcement of individuals who do not pose a threat to public safety can potentially improve trust between immigrant communities and the police.

Journal of Urban Economics, 2022

By Ben Orlebeke and Cory Shindel

In recent years, administrative policies seeking to roll back protections for immigrant and refugee children and families have had devastating impacts and only highlighted the unique needs and vulnerabilities of children in U.S. immigration custody. Efforts to restore, expand, and reimagine processes that prioritize children’s rights and well-being have never been more critical. With the generous support of the Four Freedoms Fund, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) undertook a project to map the different types of facilities in which children are detained in the U.S. immigration system to inform efforts to create a system centered in children’s best interests, rights, and unique needs. This brief is excerpted from that project. Many thanks to the Four Freedoms Fund for making this project possible, and to Ben Orlebeke and Cory Shindel (KIND)

Washington, DC: Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), 2021. 13p.

By U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General

We incorporated the formal comments provided by your office. The report contains four recommendations aimed at improving ICE’s ability to monitor the location and status of unaccompanied alien children. Your office concurred with all four recommendations. Based on information provided in your response to the draft report, we consider recommendations 1 through 4 open and resolved. Once your office has fully implemented the recommendations, please submit a formal closeout letter to us within 30 days so that we may close the recommendations. The memorandum should be accompanied by evidence of completion of agreed-upon corrective actions.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of UACs enter the United States illegally. Public concern for the safety of UACs has continued as the U.S. media has reported on trafficking, exploitation, forced labor, and other criminal activities. ICE is responsible for managing and monitoring the immigration cases of these children once they are released from DHS’ custody. We conducted this audit to determine ICE’s ability to monitor the location and status of UACs once released or transferred from DHS and HHS’ custody

Washington DC: OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL U.S. Department of Homeland Security , 2025. 27p.

By William A. Kandel

The number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC, unaccompanied children) apprehended at the Southwest border between U.S. ports of entry while attempting to enter the United States without authorization has increased substantially over the past decade. Apprehensions numbered 8,041 in FY2008 and reached a then-record of 68,541 in FY2014. Since FY2014, apprehensions have fluctuated considerably, ranging from a low of 30,557 in FY2020 to a high of 149,093 in FY2022. Since FY2021, they have exceeded 130,000 each year. In the first 10 months of FY2024, apprehensions of UAC numbered 87,475. UAC are children under age 18 who lack both lawful immigration status in the United States, and a parent or legal guardian in the United States, or a parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide care and physical custody. U.S. policy on UAC treatment and processing is guided by the Flores Settlement Agreement of 1997, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008. Children from the Northern Triangle countries—El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—and increasingly from other countries dominate what was previously an almost entirely Mexican migrant flow. The TVPRA permits most Mexican children to be voluntarily returned to Mexico. In contrast, children from all other countries may enter the United States and are placed in formal removal immigration proceedings, during which they may apply for relief or protection from removal. Consequently, the shift in origin-country composition has affected both federal spending and the federal agencies responsible for unaccompanied children. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Department of Justice (DOJ) share responsibility for UAC processing, treatment, placement, and immigration case adjudication. DHS’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehends and detains UAC arrested at the border. DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) handles custody transfer and repatriation, apprehends UAC in the U.S. interior, and represents the government in removal proceedings. HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) coordinates care and placement of UAC in appropriate custodial settings. DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) adjudicates UAC removal cases. The Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations, as well as Congress, have taken steps since 2014 to respond to the general increase in UAC apprehensions. During the 2014 surge, the Obama Administration opened the first large temporary shelters, initiated programs to address root causes of child migration, and created the Central American Minors (CAM) Refugee and Parole Program. The Trump Administration instituted policies to reduce illegal migrant flows and limit who could apply for asylum. It discontinued the CAM program and implemented an agreement between ORR and DHS to share biometric and immigration status information about children as well as sponsors and any adults in their households. In 2020, HHS’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) exercised its authority under U.S. Code Title 42 (public health) that temporarily allowed CBP to promptly expel UAC at the border. The Biden Administration has faced record high UAC apprehension levels. It has excepted unaccompanied children from Title 42 expulsions, revoked the ORR-DHS information-sharing agreement, employed numerous temporary influx facilities, and reactivated the CAM program. It also issued a final rule implementing the Flores Agreement and formalizing UAC policies in regulation. Congress has responded by providing funding for UAC-related activities in response to annual, supplemental, and emergency appropriations requests. Current UAC policy issues facing Congress include the provision of post-release follow-up and services, the prevalence of child labor violations, legal representation for children in immigration proceedings, and potential incentives for child migration created by the TVPRA.

Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2024. 56p.

By Sofia Avila

Workplace raids are visible and disruptive immigration enforcement operations that can result in the detention of hundreds of immigrants at one time. Despite concerns about the impact of raids on children’s well-being, there is limited research on how these tactics affect their academic performance. Using school-level testing data from 2015 to 2019, I compare changes in the performance of Hispanic students in schools close to a workplace raid to white students in the same schools and Hispanic students at control schools. I find exposure to a raid lowered the scores and passing rates of Hispanic students in standardized tests taken 40 days after the operation. I further find that students in schools closer to the raid experienced more pronounced drops in performance, but I do not detect strong evidence that performance decreases were caused by interruptions to schooling. These findings provide new evidence on the spillover effects of workplace raids, underscoring the potential role of immigration enforcement in generating disparities in Hispanic children’s educational outcomes.

Sociological Science 11: 258-296 2024.

By David K Hausman

The US government maintains that local sanctuary policies prevent deportations of violent criminals and increase crime. This report tests those claims by combining Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation data and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) crime data with data on the implementation dates of sanctuary policies between 2010 and 2015. Sanctuary policies reduced deportations of people who were fingerprinted by states or counties by about one-third. Those policies also changed the composition of deportations, reducing deportations of people with no criminal convictions by half-without affecting deportations of people with violent convictions. Sanctuary policies also had no detectable effect on crime rates. These findings suggest that sanctuary policies, although effective at reducing deportations, do not threaten public safety.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Nov 3;117(44):27262-27267.

By Chloe N. East , Annie Laurie Hines , Philip Luck , Hani Mansour and Andrea Vel´asquez

We examine the labor market effects of Secure Communities (SC)–an immigration enforcement policy which led to over 454,000 deportations between 2008-2014. Using a difference-in-differences model that takes advantage of the staggered rollout of SC, we find that SC significantly decreased the employment share of likely undocumented male immigrants. The policy also led to a decrease in the employment rate of citizens. The employment effects on citizens are concentrated among males working in medium-skilled occupations, particularly in sectors that traditionally rely on likely undocumented workers. The results are consistent with complementarities in production between low-skilled immigrants and higher-skilled citizens.

Unpublished paper, 2020. 61p.

By UK Home Office

1. Immigration is important for Britain. For centuries people have come to this country to build a better life, contributing economically and culturally to our society and helping to rebuild our country after major shocks such as the Second World War. From Uganda to Ukraine, Britain has also proudly played its part in offering refuge – and in many cases, a fresh start – to those fleeing violence and persecution overseas. 2. It is precisely because of immigration’s historic significance to our country, that it must be properly controlled and managed, so that the public can have confidence in the system, so that it properly benefits the UK and so that the system itself is fair. Delivering such an immigration system, coupled with strong border security, is one of the foundations of this Government’s Plan for Change. 3. Over recent years, proper control and management of the immigration system has been lost. While much attention has rightly been focused on the surge in illegal migration across the Channel, reaching a peak of 45,744 small boat arrivals in 2022, there has been less focus on the rapid increase in the levels of legal net migration since 2019. Levels of net migration were approximately 200,000 per year throughout most of the 2010s and have risen from 224,000 in the year to June 2019 to a record high of 906,000 in the year ending June 2023- a four-fold increase in the space of under four years. 1 4. At the same time as a significant expansion in overall levels of migration, driven by particularly by non-EU nationals and their dependants coming to the UK for work and study, the mix of visa holders also changed – shifting increasingly away from higher-skilled migration, and towards lower-skilled migration. 5. Those unsustainably high levels of migration have also added extra demand to our public services and our housing supply during a decade when both are already stretched, adding to pressure on key services and the housing market, and fragmenting social relations. High levels of migration can also result in widespread labour exploitation, as migrant workers’ rights are violated, and employers who play by the rules are undercut. 6. It is this Government’s intention to restore confidence in the immigration system, so that we can support and see benefits from migration whilst ensuring it is properly controlled and is not used as an alternative to fixing problems here in the UK. That is what this White Paper seeks to achieve. THE CASE FOR CHANGE 7. Net migration hit a record high of +906,000 in June 2023 and quadrupled from its level of 224,000 in June 2019. In the latest data, for the year ending June 2024, net migration was +728,000. While levels of net migration have come down slightly in the latest year, it remains significantly above the level of net migration at any period in recent history, having averaged between 200,000 to 300,000 per year from 2010 to 2019.2 8. Recent high levels of net migration have been driven by non-EU nationals and their dependants coming to the UK for work, study, and humanitarian reasons. This includes temporary factors such as humanitarian migration from Ukraine and Hong Kong. Recent policy changes have reduced the number of migrants particularly on the health and care and study routes. 9. The recent significant increases followed the introduction of new immigration policies in 2020, following the UK's departure from the EU – a system which made a number of key changes as part of the transition to a single EU/non-EU set of rules, including reducing the overall skills threshold for migration from degree-level (Regulated Qualifications Framework Level 6 or RQF 6) to A-Level-equivalent (RQF 3), and setting a new basic salary threshold for all countries at £25,600.

London: UK Government, 2025. 82p. Annex; 15p.