As we have seen, the securitisation of unwanted, vulnerable and precarious bodies often takes place in public spaces, and we have looked at some of the hardest cases of this, such as Israel’s intentional policy to maim Palestinians (Puar, 2017), or depriving asylum seekers and refugees of their rights through bordering measures that increase insecurity for those refused safe passage, held in detention centres, subjected to extreme forms of surveillance and threats of deportation after arrival. Increasingly restrictive policies aim to deter asylum seekers through multiple means so that arrival at a safe third country becomes meaningless when those who succeed are likely to face detention, minimal welfare benefits and family reunification rights. Such poor treatment and the erosion of the most minimal of welfare indicate that international human rights’ guarantee of basic rights has become vacuous (Edwards, 2005) such that both hard and soft rights have been lost.

While there is an understandable focus on violations such as torture, bodily integrity through dress should also be considered. The regulation of religious dress, especially women’s, in Europe has become a significant focus. It is not just refugees that are subjected to securitisation, but also unpopular minority citizens – whose citizenship should protect them. In today’s Europe, Muslims are considered the most dangerous minority, and this chapter explores how human rights institutions have failed to protect the bodily integrity of European Muslims at the point when Muslim citizens – historically excluded from shaping the public sphere – have started to demand their place in it and to be treated as European citizens (Jonker and Amiraux, 2015). The enablement of religious pluralism – through religious dress – in secular public spaces tests human rights’ commitment to bodily integrity in circumstances where demands for recognition clash with a national security climate. Thus far, European case law seems to be lagging the vision that supra-national judicial rights are a neutral arbiter, audience and an effective check on national governments who regard overt expressions of Muslim identity – in particular, the covered Muslim woman – as a threat to the normal order of things. The public sphere is essential to the enactment of human rights as a way of transgressing exclusionary national culture where those deemed not to belong are unwelcome. This chapter is about how rights talk and law can be complicit in securitising vulnerable groups.