ABSTRACT
With more people crossing international borders than at any time in human history, there is an increasing need for global cooperation around issues of migration, but this cooperation has proven elusive. This chapter examines advances in global cooperation, particularly the international refugee regime established by the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, as well as the limitations imposed by the prioritization of state sovereignty over effective cooperation that protects migrants. The long-established and continually retrenched priority of the nation-state over the migrant in international law and discussions on migration will inevitably stymie an effective global response, as can be seen in the recent negotiations on the global compacts. To explore the possibility of an alternative way of prioritizing nation-state and migrant, the chapter turns to resources in Christian theology that chasten and upend the priority of the nation-state over the migrant.
