Protection of the Rights of Vulnerable Irregular Migrants: Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda Compared

In spite of their sovereign rights to determine categories of persons permitted to enter and/or reside in their territories and the conditions governing such entry and residence, states are under international customary law, treaty and constitutional obligations to respect and uphold the rights of vulnerable migrants irrespective of their migratory status. Mindful of this obligation, which is discernible from international, regional and national human rights frameworks, and the particular vulnerability of irregular migrants, including victims of trafficking, smuggled migrants, asylum seekers within mixed migratory flows, women and children, this paper makes an analytical comparison of the existing protection strengths and gaps in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Methodologically, the study employs a doctrinal and comparative legal research approach, relying on qualitative analysis of constitutions, immigration legislation, related legal and policy instruments, judicial materials and relevant scholarly and institutional literature. However, with considerable variance, the paper reveals the magnitude of the surveyed states' neglect of the rights of vulnerable irregular migrants. Across all three jurisdictions, irregular migrants continue to face numerous protection challenges, including criminalisation, protracted detention, abuse of due process of law and arbitrary removal. The paper shows that migration governance systems in the three states predominantly remain security-oriented and overly restrictive. In turn, this approach worsens migrants' vulnerability and undermines the effective enjoyment of fundamental human rights prescribed under international, regional and national human rights law. The paper begins by shedding light on irregular migration and vulnerability before comparatively identifying the governance gaps and human rights protection challenges. Its principal contribution lies in demonstrating that the vulnerability of irregular migrants in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda is not merely an individual or incidental condition but is structurally produced and reinforced by fragmented legal frameworks, criminalisation-oriented immigration laws and weak institutional coordination. It concludes that meaningful protection of vulnerable irregular migrants requires coherent, coordinated and human-rights-centred migration governance frameworks at national and regional levels.