ISIS and the Crimes Against the Yazidi Group. “When ISIS attacked Sinjar, they came to destroy”.
March 30, 2019
Access to Justice for LGBT People Who were Victims of Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. A Comparative Research
November 4, 2020The Global Migration Crisis – The Cases of the United States and Myanmar.
The Federal Lawyer – May/June 2020
Migration is often discussed as a matter of borders, numbers and national security, yet behind every movement of people there are legal, political and human consequences that cannot be reduced to statistics. This article examines the global migration crisis through two distinct but deeply revealing case studies: the United States and Myanmar (aka Burma).
While the United States faces continuing pressure at its southern border, particularly from migrants and asylum seekers fleeing poverty, violence and instability in Central America, Myanmar represents one of the gravest contemporary examples of forced displacement through the persecution of the Rohingya minority.
The article first recalls the distinction between voluntary migration and forced displacement, placing the analysis within the framework of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the principle of international protection. It then considers how state sovereignty, border control and domestic immigration policies can collide with the duty to safeguard fundamental human rights. In the U.S. context, measures such as stricter asylum rules, family separation practices and restrictions on access to protection illustrate how migration management may become punitive when detached from humanitarian considerations. In Myanmar, the denial of citizenship, systematic discrimination and mass displacement of the Rohingya show how statelessness and persecution can produce a refugee crisis of international concern.
By comparing these two situations, the article argues that migration cannot be addressed only through emergency responses or unilateral policies. Instruments such as the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration may offer a useful framework, but they remain insufficient without political will, effective legal implementation and specialized expertise. Last but not least, the article calls for a more coherent approach to migration, one that respects state interests while recognizing that migrants and refugees are, above all, human beings entitled to dignity, protection and justice.