Ties That Bind, Documents That Trap: Transnational Repression Through Abuse of Consular Services

• In Event: 20862 - Section on International Migration Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 14: Immigration Control and Enforcement

Abstract

Much of the literature has largely focused on how states in the Global North "receive" outsiders, paying less attention to how sending states continue to shape structures abroad . Burgeoning scholarship is only beginning to uncover the ways states implement policies to monitor, intimidate, and repress their expatriate populations. In this direction, This paper aims to unpack a specific toolkit of transnational repression that has received scant attention: abuse of consular services. This paper explains how the home states inflict legal, financial and emotional hardships on individuals abroad through manipulating consular services. The paper creates a typology of the measures the home state uses through abuse of consular services. They achieve this by deliberately obstructing or manipulating the provision of essential consular services, first by withholding key documentation services and second by withholding assistance. Then, I explore the consequences of such abuse on the lives of these individuals and discuss the implications of recognizing this toolkit.

Author

• Yusuf Karipek, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign