From securitisation of migration to the dehumanisation of refugees: A threat to liberal democracy

On 31 October 2023, the European Studies Centre (ESC) hosted a seminar on the securitisation of migration and the dehumanisation of refugees, examining their implications for liberal democracy. The seminar was chaired by ESC Director Othon Anastasakis. The speakers were Franck Düvell – Senior Researcher and Coordinator of the Forced Migration and Refugee Research Consortium at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, Osnabrück University – and Başak Kale – Associate Professor at the Middle East Technical University, Türkiye. They were joined by Catherine Briddick – Andrew W. Mellon Associate Professor of International Human Rights and Refugee Law and Fellow of St Antony’s College – as discussant.

Franck Düvell addressed the dehumanisation of refugees. His interest in the topic emerged after visits to migration centres in 2013 and subsequent fieldwork in the Greek islands and along the Aegean coast of Türkiye. To understand hostile responses to migration after 2015, he compared the European Union’s reaction to the so-called migration crisis with European responses to the migration of Eastern European Jews in the 1920s.He identified striking parallels in both policy and rhetoric. In both periods, refugees were portrayed as invaders and confined to camps. Accounts from refugees described similar experiences of hunger, inadequate medical care, poor shelter, and mistreatment by authorities. Düvell argued that these practices formed part of a broader process of dehumanisation, marking a boundary between an “in-group” and an “out-group”. By portraying refugees as threats and as less than fully human, such narratives enable indifference to suffering and the denial of rights. He suggested that this dynamic functions as a deterrence strategy and represents what he termed a new typology of evil.

Başak Kale focused on the securitisation of migration within the EU. She traced its roots to the development of the EU’s border control regime in the 1980s and 1990s, when control of external borders became central to safeguarding freedom of movement within the Union. Over time, border control became increasingly intertwined with migration management.

Although refugee arrivals increased after the Arab Spring in 2011, Kale argued that securitisation intensified in 2015, when asylum applications rose sharply. The EU responded through the EU–Türkiye deal, enhanced maritime operations in the Mediterranean, and the establishment of ‘hotspots’ in frontline Member States such as Italy and Greece. According to Kale, the EU–Türkiye agreement served as a testing ground for measures later replicated elsewhere, contributing to the externalisation of EU migration policy and signalling a deterrent stance towards further arrivals.

Catherine Briddick examined the legal dimensions of securitisation. She discussed provisions of the UK’s Illegal Migration Act and contrasted the EU’s response to refugees from Syria with its response to those fleeing Ukraine. She noted that the extensive powers granted under the Illegal Migration Act — including provisions enabling deportation and restricting asylum claims, even where international protection or trafficking concerns may arise — are justified through a discourse of “extraordinary circumstances”, such as pressure on public services and public concern about small boat crossings.

She also highlighted the EU’s activation of the Temporary Protection Directive in response to Ukrainian refugees, which allowed them to travel and settle freely within the Union. This, she argued, demonstrates how states may find it easier to extend protection to those perceived as culturally or linguistically proximate, while refugees from different racial or cultural backgrounds face neglect or exclusion.

The discussion and question-and-answer session further explored the EU’s responses to the 2015 refugee crisis and to displacement following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Participants also addressed the legal distinctions between refugees and asylum seekers, as well as the vital role played by NGOs in providing essential support and infrastructure.

By Alban Dafa (SEESOX Research Assistant)