Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: Coloniality of Law and Communities of Practice

In this paper, I argue that the safe, orderly, and regular migration paradigm, as promoted by the Global Compact, reproduces the coloniality of legal knowledge. While regular migration is safer, strict national legislations often make it inaccessible for people from the Global South, leading to irregular migration as the only available option. The Global Compact aims to reduce irregular migration, but fails to address the structural inequalities that cause it. I propose a decolonial approach to transformative constitutionalism, reframing migrants as a community of legal practice. By leveraging
their legal knowledge and acts of resistance, migrants can challenge the colonial legal structures that systematically marginalize them. This perspective aims to expand the discussion on non-citizens’ experiences and provide new decolonial avenues for understanding migration law and transformative constitutionalism. The paper first outlines this decolonial framework, then critiques the safe, orderly, and regular paradigm, and finally, suggests a methodological approach centered on the narratives and practices of people on the move.