Migrant worker victimisation: EU labour migration law and structural injustice

Abstract

Criminal justice responses to migrant worker exploitation are insufficient. The deficiency can be overcome by a shift towards a perspective that goes beyond criminal law and embodies a response that expands the guarantee of victims’ rights to include social and labour rights protection. In the European Union (EU), the protection of migrant workers’ rights and entitlements – including those related to access to justice when faced with victimisation – depends on the migration status they are granted, due to a piecemeal and fragmented approach to labour migration. This article maps the EU legal migration framework from the theoretical standpoint of Mantouvalou’s state-mediated structural injustice. The weaknesses stemming from the current law and policy framework that create migrant worker legal precarity and fail to guarantee access to justice where workers experience exploitative working conditions will be identified. The article further develops a clearer picture of the rights of victims on the ‘margins of protection’ who, by virtue of their legal status, do not ‘fit’ into the European criminal law instruments that seek to tackle exploitation and victimisation and offers insights into how the EU should continue to strengthen the protection of the social rights of migrant workers.