Migrant and refugee activists as security agents: openings in the Women, Peace and Security agenda

ABSTRACT

This article examines how refugee and other migrant women resettled in Europe influence security governance and knowledge in European governments and at the United Nations. We document migrant women’s activism and collaboration with policymakers in relation to the Women, Peace and Security agenda, a global assemblage of policy, legislation and advocacy grown out of women’s activism at the United Nations Security Council. We argue that this framework offers both opportunities and constraints for migration activism. Refugee and migrant women successfully use the agenda to unsettle stereotypes of passivity and voicelessness, while navigating expectations of peacefulness, consensual dialogue and heteronormative femininity.

KEYWORDS:

• refugees
• migration
• activism
• women
• peace and security
• displacement
• Europe
• borders

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 We thank an anonymous reviewer for helping us articulate this conclusion.