Abstract
This chapter provides a comparative analysis of the sources of social protection within a long-distance migration flow, connecting Ecuador to Europe, with a particular focus on the role of the motherland. It approaches first the discourse and policies emerging in Ecuador, with respect to the transnational protection of the citizens — one and a half million at least — who have left the country in the last decades (Gratton, 2007; FLACSO, 2008). It then explores the relative weight of migrants’ own practices and resources of social protection, drawing from my empirical study of Ecuadorian migration to Italy.1 Finally it takes stock of the current and potential interactions between these two axes of migrant social protection, asking to what extent, and in which respects, can an integration between institutional and migrant-led initiatives result in a ‘transnationalism of social rights’?
Every person is equal and shall possess the same rights, duties and opportunities. Nobody shall be discriminated against on grounds of […] migratory condition… [The state of Ecuador] fights for the principle of universal citizenship, for the free mobility of every inhabitant of the planet earth, for the gradual demise of the condition of alien as a transforming element of the unequal relationships between countries, with especial respect to the North-South divide. It demands respect of human rights, with especial regard to migrating persons…
—Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador (2008, Articles 11.2 and 416.6–7 [my translation])
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© 2011 Paolo Boccagni
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Boccagni, P. (2011). Social Protection as a Multi-Actor Process in Ecuadorian Migration: Towards a Transnationalism of Social Rights?. In: Sabates-Wheeler, R., Feldman, R. (eds) Migration and Social Protection. Rethinking International Development Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230306554_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230306554_9
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