Migration As Decolonization: ‘a Matter of Right in Scandinavian’

The prevailing doctrine of state sovereignty under international law today is that it entails the right to exclude non-nationals, with only limited exceptions, which is not applicable in the domestic legal regime of nations on an identity basis, with strict liability of the government under constitutional legal mandates to provide the facilities to the stranded migrants in such a situation of danger to life. Whatever the possibility of some exclusions, the so-called economic migrants from particular identities not belonging to popular religions like Christianity in Scandinavian countries who were moving from one place to another are driven mainly by a wish for a better life, which is typically beyond them. Whereas international refugee law and international human rights law impose restrictions on states’ right to exclude non-nationals whose lives are endangered by the risk of certain forms in their countries of origin, no similar protections exist for economic migrants. This formulation of state sovereignty justifies the assertion of a largely unfettered right to exclude economic migrants especially the ones with minority status such as in Scandinavian/Nordic Countries the people not of Christian origins. This Article looks at the history and legacy of migration issues, arguing for a different theory of sovereignty and clarifying why migrants of a certain kind have compelling claims to national admission within States and other countries that today unethically insist on a right to exclude them. A global interconnection and political subordination, initiated throughout history, generate a theory of sovereignty that obligates former colonial powers to open their borders to former colonial subjects. Insofar, a different conceptualization of migration is necessary: one that treats some minority category economic migrants as political agents exercising equality rights when they engage in “decolonial” migration with analysis of laws in differing scenarios for ‘Migration’.

Keywords: Migration, Decolonization, Sovereignty, Christianity, Minority