Temporary Protection Regimes in the European Union, the Unites States of America, Mexico and South Africa: The Lived Realities of Liminal Legality, Chronic Exile and Sustainable Alternatives

ongoing

Temporary Protection Regimes in the European Union, the Unites States of America, Mexico and South Africa: The Lived Realities of Liminal Legality, Chronic Exile and Sustainable Alternatives (T-PROTECT) is an interdisciplinary study of the turn towards temporality and eventual return of refugees in the global migration and asylum regime. Temporary protection (TP) has been increasingly adopted across multiple countries either to displace the refugee status determination process defined under the 1951 Convention and 1976 Protocol for the large-scale arrivals or as an alternative for who may not qualify for asylum but are nonetheless fleeing potentially dangerous situations. Taking on the challenge of analysing the underlying motivations behind states’ turn towards temporary protection measures to govern migration and asylum, T-PROTECT examines how living under temporary protection regimes is shaping the life of third country nationals in USA, Mexico and SA, focusing on their access to rights and services, and the broader impact of these processes on their well-being. Furthermore T-PROTECT aims to reveal the sustainable alternatives to temporary protection that include and go beyond effective pathways for asylum applications, regularisation and socio-economic inclusion, analysing their potential for transferability to the European context. Despite widespread use over the past years, a comprehensive understanding of TP regimes remains under-researched. This project will challenge the dual narrative that TP either undermines asylum rights or provides practical solutions through an innovative theoretical framework. Under the guidance of esteemed scholars like Prof. Olga Jubany (UB), Prof. Megan Bradley (McGill), and Prof. Fatima Khan (UCT), the fellowship will support my career goal of securing a tenure-track position in social anthropology at the University of Barcelona, or another leading university in Europe.