CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Romadin, Olga Anastasija |
|---|---|
| Title | The Role of Political Rhetoric in Undermining International Protections |
| Summary | As part of their vehemently anti-immigrant positions in response to large populations of non-citizens arriving at their borders, the administrations of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and that of United States President Donald Trump, as well as certain actors of right-wing political organizations in Sweden, have begun to utilize the rhetoric of defense to effectively sidestep their obligations under international law. By examining political speeches and governmental actions in response to people claiming a fear of persecution during the recent migration crises, it becomes apparent that these actors have begun to re-frame the issue of international protection by referring to persons normally qualifying for protection as refugees or asylum seekers instead as “migrants,” “illegal aliens,” “foreign invaders,” and similar categories that have no international obligations attached to them by state parties to international statutes and render the protections outlined in treaties like the 1951 Refugee Convention meaningless and inapplicable. In addition to being legally undefined and having no international or domestic protections affiliated with them, the terms used by politicians in these states to address these populations are used derogatively and have served to effectively appeal to nationalist sentiments in driving the public support to turning vulnerable persons away, giving way to the unimpeded introduction of domestic laws and policies hostile to those claiming a fear of persecution. This has allowed these administrations to not only politically position themselves as defenders of sovereign borders but to evade a legal mandate to grant protection to persons seeking asylum and its attendant responsibilities, even at the expense of their international obligations, to which they argue they are not bound. This contradicts the spirit and intent of such protection conventions and jeopardizes hard-won human rights, as criticism from international and nongovernmental organizations demonstrates. |
| Supervisor | Kralik, Lorna |
| Department | Legal Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/romadin_olga.pdf |
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