Migration governance must balance emotions about security and humanitarianism

Umut Korkut, a professor at the Glasgow Caledonian University in the United Kingdom gave a lecture at UTEP on May 16, 2019. Umut’s work is focused on politics, democracy and migration in the European Union. He spoke about the Hungarian border regime and the de-humanization of migrants. Migrant governance refers to the emotions about both security and humanitarianism, he said, and political entrepreneurs exploit the former to condition the other. The Hungarian border approves one migrant per day, he said, becoming the gate for the European Union and placing human rights in peril. Umut’s insights about migration and borders make us think on a philosophical dichotomy, the human right to migrate in one side, and the country’s right to sovereignty in the other. In the end, this dichotomy should not be resolved on either side. Adequate humanitarian migration policies could support both.