Human Rights and Migration Management: Of Complexity, Balance, and Nuance
The overarching theme of this Annual Meeting is ‘‘Confronting Complexity.’’ In the international law governing migration control, human rights norms have introduced complexity where rather stark simplicity once ruled. This is a welcome development. But its momentum may carry it to unwarranted extremes, losing sight of a complex balance that is needed for sound and durable migration management—which itself helps serve a wider panorama of humane objectives. The simple international law of earlier times was captured in a classic passage from the U.S. Supreme Court:It is an accepted maxim of international law that every sovereign nation has the power . . . to forbid the entrance of foreigners or to admit them only in such cases and upon such conditions as it may see fit to prescribe.
This is direct and uncomplicated. Discretion rules. Migration management imperatives can have full sway—and regulation can embody any substantive values that the nation chooses, from strict autarky to migration promotion.