Private companies play an increasing role in migration-related activities which had long been considered to fall under the exclusive domain of States. The private sector is now involved in a broad range of activities including, most notably, the recruitment of migrant workers, the implementation of migration control and the fight against human trafficking and labor exploitation of migrants. This phenomenon raises important issues regarding the responsibility and accountability of private companies as well as the impact of their activities on the protection of migrants.
Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, this project aims to assess the multi-faceted consequences of the growing privatisation of migration control under public international law. To do so, the project will clarify the applicable legal framework by revealing the normative interactions at play between different branches of public international law and various domestic frameworks governing the responsibility of private actors in the field of migration. Such a holistic stance will prove instrumental for assessing whether the current legal framework can provide solutions to the numerous challenges that arise from the role of the private sector in migration-related activities.
