The Right to Rights? Undocumented Migrants from Zimbabwe Living in South Africa ■ ■ Alice Bloch City University London ABSTRACT This article examines the disjuncture between the theory of international refugee protection, human rights and citizenship rights and their practice. Drawing on data from a sub-sample of 500 Zimbabwean migrants taken from a larger survey of 1000 Zimbabweans in South Africa and the UK, it explores the labour market and transnational lives of undocumented migrants and compares them with migrants with other immigration statuses. The article demonstrates that while the protec- tion and rights frameworks exist, in reality undocumented migrants cannot access protection and/or rights. KEY WORDS citizenship / employment / human rights / refugees / South Africa / transnational- ism / undocumented migrants / Zimbabwe T his article examines the disjuncture between the theory and practice of inter- national refugee protection, human rights regimes and citizenship, including new forms of transnational or post-national citizenship, through a case study of undocumented migrants from Zimbabwe living in South Africa. The article draws on a survey of 500 Zimbabwean migrants living in South Africa that includes 156 undocumented migrants and explores the significance of immi- gration status as a determinant of migrants’ economic and transnational lives. 1 The data show that, while some rights are in theory available to everyone regardless of their status because they are based on notions of universality and personhood, in reality undocumented migrants are not able to benefit from the existing frameworks. 233 Sociology Copyright © The Author(s) 2010, Reprints and permissions: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav BSA Publications Ltd® Volume 44(2): 233–250 DOI: 10.1177/0038038509357209