Refugees saved by boat off the Libyan coast while attempting to cross over to Italy in the Mediterranean, 27 January 2018. Laurin Schmid/SOS Mediterranee/Press Association. All rights reserved.The situation in the Mediterranean basin continues to intensify: a daily mass grave which is partly a cover-up, with states establishing or tolerating methods of elimination which history will certainly judge as criminal. Between both of these we find initiatives that embody the solidarity efforts of “civil society”: cities of shelter, “humanity smugglers”, rescue vessels that are forced far too often into a cat-and-mouse game due to the hostility of the public authorities.
This situation is not unique in the world. But for us European citizens it holds a particular meaning and urgency. It calls for a restructuring of international law towards a recognition of hospitality as a “fundamental right”, thereby imposing on states obligations which should have at least as much clout as the grand proclamations of the postwar period (1945, 1948, 1951). We must therefore talk about this.[1]
To start with: who are we talking about? Are we talking about “refugees”, about “migrants”, or about a different category encompassing both? These distinctions are, as we know, at the heart of both the administrative practices and the objections levelled towards the latter. But above all, the type of rights we acknowledge and the way we describe the fact of depriving people of these rights also depends on how we designate the humans who are to be protected or constrained.
