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This paper analyses the barriers to the recognition of gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum. It focuses on Spain and examines the rulings of Spanish courts on applications based on various types of gender violence between 2009 and 2019 and looks at the theoretical propositions of "the politics of silence". The paper proposes that these barriers can be attributed to the interweaving of androcentric and colonial frameworks that produce arbitrary representations of non-European women and their cultures. It also highlights the paradoxical way authorities deploy culturalisation strategies around female genital mutilation and forced marriage, treating them as "exotic" violence, in contrast to the strategies of invisibilisation and silence used with other types of gender-based violence, such as "intimate violence". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, forced marriage as a manifestation of violence against women has entered the public agenda in European Union countries. This is partly due to higher numbers of migrants from regions where it is a regular practice. This paper aims to show the different ways violence manifests itself in forced marriage, both symbolically and practically - in terms of experiences - based on a qualitative sample of women with a range of migration backgrounds residing in Catalonia. The intersectional gender approach of the analysis enables the interaction to be considered of various factors when it comes to understanding contexts of risk and violence, as well as exit strategies from forced marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of Moroccan women crossed the border between Melilla and Morocco on a daily basis to work in domestic employment, a consolidated niche sector of cross-border employment for low-skilled working-class women. When the border closed due to COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, many decided to remain in Melilla. Following the precepts of grounded theory and using biographical interviews, the paper investigates the survival strategies these women deployed following the border closure. An ambivalent process began: on the one hand, their labour conditions worsened, exposing them to worse situations of violence; on the other, they developed strategies of resistance and agency, assuming the role of breadwinner for their families and opting for a process of emancipation through inclusion and training opportunities in the city of Melilla. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnic nationalism or ethnonationalism is a fundamental feature of the ideology of the Spanish political party Vox. This connects it with the political thought of the populist radical right (as defined by Mudde) within the wider far right family. First, this paper examines what ethnic nationalism or ethnonationalism means, in theoretical terms, before going on to analyse a peculiar feature that distinguishes Vox's nativism from other European radical right parties: "ethnic Hispanicism". Finally, it studies Vox's connections with Latin America, investigating the specific conceptualisation and strategic features of the project the Spanish party calls the "Iberosphere". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the content of the electoral hoaxes identified by factcheckers Maldita and Newtral, using as a case study the campaign for the April 28th 2019 Spanish general election. To study the context in which electoral disinformation operates, a bot was created on Twitter (@unfaking_es) that followed the activity of the accounts of the main media, political parties, candidates, official institutions and factcheckers. Most of the 37 hoaxes analysed originated on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, and the electoral system itself was the main target of disinformation, being labelled as fraudulent. The debate on Twitter was dominated by live fact-checking carried out carried out by left-wing media, media, with Pablo Casado (Popular with Pablo Casado (Popular Party) being the most frequently debunked candidate. most frequently debunked candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The personal experience of crossing a border differs according to gender. Specifically, the selectivity of immigration controls means that deportation affects many more men than women. Based on the analysis of official data on the detention of people in irregular situations, detention in migrant detention centres (CIE in its Spanish acronym) and repatriations, disaggregated by sex, this paper provides some theoretical reflections on why a gender gap exists in the deportation apparatus in Spain. Taking up the feminist criminology research agenda's challenge, it seeks to contribute to the development of "criminology of mobility" with an analysis of migration control in Spain from a gender perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 15 years a series of apparently unconnected architectural events and assemblies have appeared in the immediate vicinity of Spain's Southern Border to improve the constructed border's functionality and capacity to respond. This paper addresses the dynamic shift the contemporary border is undergoing according to the detection of three strategies: seal, delay and contain. The critical cartography and forensic reconstruction of a series of events allow us to demonstrate the typological transformation shifting the weight of stable constructions to dynamic and instantaneous assemblies. These can no longer be said to be static solutions, but a territorial mechanism or assembly that configure and define the border. While the border architecture is a clear materialisation of sovereignty, it is necessary to question the territorial model, which is no longer represented by the rule but by the condition of operability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking Spain as a case study, this paper analyses the institutional production of border apparatus within reception countries, which affect very diverse areas of the daily life of migrants. Hence, rather than as a rigid line dividing the population into included and excluded, the border is approached as a flexible governance mechanism that differentially regulates access to rights. Starting by analysing the formal and informal operation of some of the institutions that manage the process (immigration offices, social services and the healthcare system), an attempt is made to give an account of the norms, requirements, administrative procedures and infra-penal mechanisms that especially affect vulnerable groups, stratifying the recognition of rights and condemning subjects to a legal limbo in which their legitimacy is - at best - blurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a critical examination of the most recent developments in Spanish practice relating to the control of irregular immigration. It analyses the commitments being made in the framework of the European integration process and their implications for the control of external borders as well as the agreements concluded by Spain - treaties and non-binding agreements (memorandums of understanding, etc.) - aimed at controlling flows of people. In this context, the article also gives attention to Spain's international obligations on human rights taking its impact on the issue and the most recent internal developments into account - both in legislative changes approved and those being enacted as administrative practice. In light of the foregoing, a critical assessment of these developments and events (e.g. "hot returns") is submitted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2008 onwards, the economic crisis experienced by countries such as Spain marked a turning point in migratory flows. As a result, faced with the serious reality of unemployment and the precariousness of the Spanish labour market, the option of return has become the last resort for some immigrants, and an attractive strategy for governments (of both countries of origin and destination), which attempt to manage return using special programmes. From this point of view, the aim of this paper is to examine the assisted voluntary return programmes in Spain and Bolivia and their suitability to the dynamics of return, beginning with an exhaustive review of the programmes and the perceptions on them expressed by Bolivian immigrants as part of the survey «Circulation and Return», carried out within the framework of the RETTRANS project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crisis has started a new migration cycle in Spain. As an effect of the restrictive measures taken and the depth of the crisis, migrant inflows have reduced and outflows have increased, the latter especially among Latin Americans. This paper explores the impact of the crisis on migrant people and their families in terms of unemployment, of declining living conditions, and of legal uncertainty. In this situation, a growing minority of immigrants, particularly Latin Americans, implement transnational strategies such as return, circular migration and others. Notwithstanding this, most immigrants are facing the crisis here, combining work, social and family strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the dynamics of the reconfiguration of Bolivian migratory fields in the context of the crisis affecting European destination countries. At a global level, we show how the 2008 worldwide economic crisis, and, in particular, its severity in Spain, has reoriented Bolivian migratory flows towards regional Latin American destinations: economies undergoing larger relative growth, such as Brazil and Chile, are newer destinations, while migration to Argentina has a long history. In a more qualitative approach, based on fieldwork interviews with Bolivian migrants in Spain, we explore the key factors that determine migratory strategies: whether to stay, return or re-emigrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical examination of the management of irregular migration flows in Spain and the legal principles and administrative practices implemented by the State in the process of expulsion that legitimise the existence of Immigrant Detention Centres (CIE). It also provides a description of the current situation of the CIE, and reports on the most recent proposals made by the Spanish government to improve the management of CIE in response to pressure exerted by civil society organisations, especially after public protests regarding the death of two inmates in December 2011 and January 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late 2004, the Conference for EU-Related Affairs (CARUE) approved two agreements governing the participation of the autonomous communities in the Council of the European Union and its preparatory bodies. After more than seven years of implementation, the system is not bringing the expected results. The problems identified in practice in a context, moreover, of institutional and economic crisis, call for new approaches. The following paper analyses the main obstacles that have arisen since the implementation of the 2004 agreements with a view to determining future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]