Erica A. Nieblas, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder

— What moral constraints might human rights place on the types of migration policies that 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 the inclusion of the “gender-responsive” criterion creates additional (but necessary) moral constraints on immigration policy. There is a relationship between gender and border policy, such that states deliberately benefit from oppressive transnational gender norms and practices. As long as such a relationship exists, gender-responsiveness should be understood as a justice constraint on nationa migration policy.