Migrant caravan: branding migrants 'human shields' has a deadly motive

Pompeo and the DHS are not alone in their attempts to frame migrants as legitimate military targets. Hungary and the Czech Republic have also categorised migrant children as "human shields", claiming that their parents are using them to facilitate their efforts to enter Europe.

Significantly, the use of "human shields" is also something that is projected almost exclusively on to non-white migrants, another attempt to portray them as "barbaric" people who fail to understand and respect the civilised norms of international law.

Much like the rebels in Syria, Houthis in Yemen, and Palestinian protestors in Gaza, migrants are now widely depicted as deliberately violating the distinction between combatant and non-combatant, purportedly shielding themselves behind "women and children" in order to gain an advantage against state militaries. Consequently, such migrants are depicted as perpetrators of a war crime – even though they are not waging an armed struggle and, in many cases, are simply trying to escape one.

And so by attempting to make a better life for themselves, migrants are transformed into military targets, people who can be legitimately injured or killed. As the migrant caravan works its way north, and is further demonised for doing so, the world should reflect on this and how one of the pillars of international law – the category of civilian – is being eroded.