Taking temporary workers' rights seriously: agency and consent

Abstract

Temporary workers are usually foreign citizens officially accepted by the host country on a provisional basis, in order to be employed in economic sectors where the native population cannot or does not want to fill the market demand. This article focuses on the theoretical puzzle regarding the contested range of rights this category of migrants should be offered by the host state. It argues that the doctrine of state sovereignty is a major obstacle to the development of migrants_ rights in international politics. Since the UN Migrant Workers Convention is lacking a serious enforcement mechanism, we should take into account the interests of the two actors directly involved: the host states (usually focused on the "rights versus numbers" dilemma) and the temporary migrants themselves (introducing the "bases of self-respect" normative puzzle). The article accepts the view that democracy's concerns with formal equality should be balanced against migrant workers' needs; in consequence a range of locally-negotiated practices regarding migrant workers' rights may be normatively acceptable as long as the trade-off is temporarily limited, is respecting basic human rights, and is acceptable in migrants' own view. One surprising consequence of this view transcends migration studies: it may help reviving the consent theory as a serious contender in the normative field of political obligation.