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.
Millions of people today are forced to flee their homes as a result of conflict, systemic discrimination, persecution, and other violations of their human rights. The core instruments on which they must rely to secure international protection are the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, now complemented by international and regional human rights treaties. This book, the leading text in a field where refugee law is now a subject of global importance, examines key challenges to system of international protection, including those arising from within the asylum process, increased controls over the movements of people, and the 'new' concern with security. The situation of refugees is one of the most pressing and urgent problems facing the international community and refugee law has grown in recent years to a subject of global importance. In this long-awaited third edition, each chapter has been thoroughly revised and updated, every issue, old and new, has received fresh analysis, and 'complementary' or human rights-based protection is given special attention. Features include: analysis and assessment of developments in interpreting the refugee definition, with particular reference to 'social group', 'exclusion', procedures, and the impact of European Union harmonization initiatives. In addition, this book reviews the situation of refugee women and children; the plight of Palestinian refugees; the protection of internally displaced persons; the role and responsibilities of the UNHCR, including in the administration of camps and settlements; the current status in general international law of the fundamental principles of non-refoulement, asylum, and the right to seek asylum; and the extent of protection possibilities in human rights treaties, particularly the European Convention on Human Rights.
The book is designed to provide an overview of the development, meaning, and nature of international refugee law. The jurisprudence on the status of refugees, loss and denial of the refugees status, non-refoulement, asylum, problems and challenges of refugee protection, the law of return and the right of return, critical refugees and immigration law, and the role of international organizations in protection of refugees are revisited in the context of contemporary realities. The relationship between armed conflict, climate change, and human right violations induced refugees and the existing international refugee regime emerging will be succinctly highlighted and analysed in the book. This lucidly written and timely book will be immensely helpful to anyone grappling with the demonstrated inadequacies of international refugee law in real life situations today and desirous of the reorientation of its meaning and scope to cater for the changing needs and shared expectation of the international community in the 21st century.
Millions of people are today forced to flee their homes as a result of conflict, systematic discrimination, or other forms of persecution. The core instruments on which they must rely to secure international protection are the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. This book, the leading text in the field, examines key challenges to the Convention such as the status of refugees, applications for asylum, and the international and domestic standards of protection. The situation of refugees is one of the most pressing and urgent problems facing the international community and refugee law has grown in recent years to a subject of global importance. In this long-awaited fourth edition each chapter has been thoroughly revised and updated and every issue, old and new, has received fresh analysis. The books includes: analysis of internally displaced persons; so-called preventive protection; access to refugees; safety of refugees and relief personnel; the situation of refugee women and children; a detailed examination of the role of the UNHCR and the Palestinian situation; and an assessment of the protection possibilities (or lack of them) in the European Convention on Human Rights. This new edition has been expanded with coverage of forced migration and displacement as a result of disasters and climate change. It is once again an unmissable reference work for practitioners and students in the field.
Refugee and Forced Migration Studies has grown from being a concern of a relatively small number of scholars and policy researchers in the 1980s to a global field of interest with thousands of students worldwide studying displacement either from traditional disciplinary perspectives or as a core component of newer programmes across the Humanities and Social and Political Sciences. Today the field encompasses both rigorous academic research which may or may not ultimately inform policy and practice, as well as action-research focused on advocating in favour of refugees' needs and rights. This authoritative Handbook critically evaluates the birth and development of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, and analyses the key contemporary and future challenges faced by academics and practitioners working with and for forcibly displaced populations around the world. The 52 state-of-the-art chapters, written by leading academics, practitioners, and policymakers working in universities, research centres, think tanks, NGOs and international organizations, provide a comprehensive and cutting-edge overview of the key intellectual, political, social and institutional challenges arising from mass displacement in the world today. The chapters vividly illustrate the vibrant and engaging debates that characterize this rapidly expanding field of research and practice.
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 book is an evaluation of the international response to a major protracted humanitarian situation. As such, it is the first comprehensive account and assessment of the effectiveness of international law in dealing with Iraqi refugees during the regime of Saddam Hussein.