Does human rights law help us to define who qualifies as a refugee? If so, then how? These deceptively simple questions sit at the heart of an intense contemporary debate over whether, or how, interpretation of the refugee definition in the Refugee Convention should take account of human rights law. In Human Rights and the Refugee Definition, Burson and Cantor bring a fine-grained comparative perspective to this debate. For the first time, they collect together in one edited volume over a dozen new studies by leading scholars and practitioners that explore in detail how these legal dynamics play out in a range of national and international jurisdictions and in relation to particular thematic challenges in refugee law.
This Handbook draws together leading and emerging scholars to provide a comprehensive critical analysis of international refugee law. This book provides an account as well as a critique of the status quo, setting the agenda for future research in the field.
This volume examines the ways in which human rights and humanitarian law have influenced the development of the refugee definition as interpreted in the United States and Canada. Analysis focuses on how these two significant jurisdictions have addressed refugee protection in a modern context. The problem areas discussed include: persecution during periods of upheaval, resistance to the State in times of civil war, opposition to coercive family planning programs, and the diverse issues raised by gender-based asylum claims. The view is advanced that the grounds of refugee protection are not fixed but parallel discriminatory social and political attitudes towards defined groups. The study also advocates that human rights and humanitarian law principles should continue to shape the evolution of refugee jurisprudence so as to achieve more effectively the Convention's goals. This work will be of great interest to academics, practitioners, and policy makers in the refugee field, as well as to scholars of international human rights and humanitarian law.
The status of the refugee in international law, and of everyone entitled to protection, has ever been precarious, not least in times of heightened and heated debate: people have always moved in search of safety, and they always will. In this completely revised and updated edition, the authors cast new light on the refugee definition, the meaning of persecution, including with regard to gender and sexual orientation, and the protection due to refugees and those affected by statelessness or disasters. They review the fundamental principle of non-refoulement as a restraint on the conduct of States, even as States themselves seek new ways to prevent the arrival of those in search of refuge. Related principles of protection—non-discrimination, due process, rescue at sea, and solutions— are analysed in light of the actual practice of States, UNHCR, and treaty-monitoring bodies. The authors closely examine relevant international standards, and the role of UNHCR, States, and civil society, in providing protection, contributing to the development of international refugee law, and promoting solutions. New chapters focus on the evolving rules on nationality, statelessness, and displacement due to disasters and climate change. This expanded edition factors in the challenges posed by the movement of people across land and sea in search of refuge, and their interception, reception, and later treatment. The overall aim remains the same as in previous editions: to provide a sound basis for protection in international law, taking full account of State and community interests and recognizing the need to bridge gaps in the regime which now has 100 years of law and practice behind it.
In international law, the refugee definition enshrined in Article 1A(2) of the Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol is central. Yet, seven decades on, the meaning of its key terms are widely seen as unclear. The Refugee Definition in International Law asks whether we must continue to accept this or whether a systematic legal analysis can shed new light on this important term. The volume addresses several framework questions concerning approaches to definition, interpretation, ordering, and the interrelationship between the definition's different elements. Each element is then analysed in turn, applying Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties rules in systematic fashion. Each chapter evaluates the main disputes that have arisen and seeks to distil basic propositions that are widely agreed, as well as certain suggested propositions for resolving ongoing debates. In the final chapter, the basic propositions are assembled to demonstrate that in fact there is now more clarity about the definition than many think and that considerable progress has been made toward achieving a working definition.
This volume brings the refugee issue out of the narrow confines of refugee law into the centre of international law and international relations. It reviews the concept of the refugee and the international protection of refugees from the unconventional angle of the prospects and limitations of multilateralism in the post Cold War era. The broadening concept of security, affecting the attitudes of states towards refugees, is the underlying theme of the book. As a result, the contemporary preoccupation with how best to provide international protection to all those in need of it is reviewed from a number of relevant perspectives: including that of peacekeeping, sanctions, and coordination and competence within the United Nations.
This ground-breaking volume brings the refugee issue out of the narrow confines of refugee law into the centre of international law and international relations. It reviews the concept of the refugee and the international protection of refugees from the unconventional angle of the prospects and limitations of multilateralism in the post Cold War era. This approach - taking conflict prevention and resolution as its point of departure - ensures that Broadening the Edges: Refugee Definition and International Protection Revisited is not only novel, but comprehensive and practical as well. It is comprehensive because it offers a review of state practice within the United Nations and regional contexts, as well as a review of the practice of the United Nations inter-agency system. It is practical because it is based on the personal experience of its author, not on theoretical models. The broadening concept of security, affecting the attitudes of states towards refugees, is the underlying theme of the book. As a result, the contemporary preoccupation with how best to provide international protection to all those in need of it is reviewed from a number of relevant perspectives - including that of peacekeeping, sanctions, and coordination and competence within the United Nations. Pirkko Kourula worked for some twelve years in UNHCR in Asia, Europe and the USA, and was Deputy Director of UNHCR Liaison Office at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 1991 to 1996. She was also Director for Humanitarian Assistance and Food Aid at FINNIDA, the Finnish International Development Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Millions of people are forced to flee their homes as a result of various forms of persecution. The instruments to secure international protection are the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. This book examines challenges to the Convention.
