Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder

-What moral constraints might human rights place on the types of migration polices states can adopt? This talk answers this question in light of recent developments in global migration governance. It focuses primarily on the moral obligations that underlie the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GMC). The GMC is an international agreement in which states reaffirm their commitments to the human rights of migrants—in part by agreeing to adopt national migration policies that are “migrant-centered, human rights-based and gender-responsive.” I argue that to achieve this goal, migration should be viewed as a part of an integrated global system whose normal functioning results in unjust gender inequalities across many domains. I conclude that under this interpretation of the migration context (which resembles the real world), states cannot legitimately adopt migration policies that ignore their potential impact on the gender reifying aspects of existing social, political, cultural and economic systems.