Migration policies as an electoral ploy too often based on myths

A warm welcome to this meet the expert lecture by prof. dr. François Crépeau (McGill University), organised by CESSMIR members Lore Roels, Ellen Desmet and Ines Keygnaert.

Without migrants’ political agency, migration policies remain mired in myths and stereotypes. Indeed, migrants cannot provide the reality check of their lived lives in order to shape migration policies which correspond to their reality on the ground. In particular, it is politically impossible at present to sanction all the employers who exploit undocumented migrants and thus provide the essential pull factor for undocumented migration, a pull factor without which the latter would be considerably reduced.

François Crépeau is a Canadian lawyer and emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Law at McGill University. He was named the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants (from 2011 to 2017) and was appointed to Belgium’s International Francqui Professor Chair in Social Sciences for 2017-2018. Over his accomplished career, professor Crépeau has distinguished himself as the leading global expert on international migration law.