Rights with Capabilities: A New Paradigm for Social Justice in Migrant Activism

The paradigm of rights, established throughout the academic, policy and migrant activism arenas, governs the protection of vulnerable migrant workers against abuse. To what extent this approach has achieved social justice for the migrant worker in the current global political economy climate is, however, uncertain. In analyzing the use of rights in migrant activism in Hong Kong, this paper shows the limitation of rights in the migrant experience at the same time as it shows how a new paradigm based on the Capabilities Approach could provide a more appropriate framework from which to achieve social justice for the migrant worker.