The United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 defines a refugee as ‘owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country’. The definition of a refugee was expanded by the Convention’s 1967 Protocol and by regional conventions in Africa and Latin America to include persons who had fled war or other violence in their home country. The Protocol ensures that internally diplaced persons can be recognized as refugees as well those who flee from areas because of natural disasters, large scale development projects, etc. It is important to note that article 33 of the Convention provides for the principle of non-refoulement which means that no contracting state shall expel or return (refouler) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to territories where his or her life or freedom would be threatened. International refugee law determines that until a request of refuge has been accepted by a host country, the person is referred to as an ‘asylum seeker’. The conditions under which a person is granted refugee status is left to the discretion of States. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) for Refugees is the principal UN organ that protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the UN. The UNHCR assists refugees in their resettlement or return and finds other solutions to their plight. On an international level, debates continue regarding the nature of the protection that refugees should be granted, the obligations of receiving countries and the role the international community towards refugees.
This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research on Refugees. It provides the basic legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library’s classification index code 160c. Other Administrative, Social and Humanitarian Questions and subject heading (keyword) Refugees are instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.
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Międzynarodowa ochrona pracowników migrujących Human rights, migration, and social conflict Refugee repatriation Environmentally-induced displacement These publications are selected for you by .
Voluntary repatriation is now the predominant solution to refugee crises, yet the responsibilities states of origin bear towards their repatriating citizens are under-examined. Through a combination of legal and moral analysis and case studies of the troubled repatriation movements to Guatemala, Bosnia and Mozambique, Megan Bradley develops and refines an original account of the minimum conditions of a ‘just return’ process. The goal of a just return process must be to recast a new relationship of rights and duties between the state and its returning citizens, and the conditions of just return match the core duties states should provide for all their citizens: equal, effective protection for security and basic human rights, including accountability for violations of these rights. This volume evaluates the ways in which different forms of redress such as restitution and compensation may help enable just returns, and traces the emergence and evolution of international norms on redress for refugees.
The crisis in East Pakistan in 1971, which preceded the birth of Bangladesh, led to ten million refugees crossing the border into India. This book argues that this massive influx of refugees within a few short months changed ideas about citizenship and belonging in South Asia. The book looks at how the Indian state, while generously keeping its borders open to the refugees, made it clear that these refugees were different from those generated by Partition, and would not be allowed to settle permanently. It discusses how the state was breaking its ‘effective’ link between refugees and citizenship, and how at the same time a second ‘affective’ border was developing between those living in the border areas, especially in Assam and West Bengal. Moving beyond the refugee narratives created by Partition, this book argues that these ‘effective’ and ‘affective’ borders generated by the refugee crisis in 1971 form part of the longer historical trajectory of the current political debate regarding ‘illegal infiltration’ from Bangladesh . It goes on to analyse the aftermath of the 1971 war and the massive repatriation project undertaken by the governments of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to examine ways in which questions about minorities and belonging remained unresolved post-1971. The book is an interesting contribution to the history of refugees, border-making and 1971 in South Asia, as well as to studies in politics and international relations.
Contents: Preface. 1. Understanding refugee. 2. United Nations High Commissioner for refugees. 3. Immigration detention. 4. Refugees in South Asia. 5. International refugee organization: constitutional and provisions. 6. Repatriation aid and temporary protection. 7. convention on the reduction of statelessness. 8. Protocol relating to status of refugees 1967. 9. Convention relating to the status of refugees. 10. Aliens migrants and refugees. Appendix. Bibliography. Index.
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The use of international human rights machinery to protect refugees has acquired an important dimension in recent years. This is true of both the United Nations treaty body system and the African, European and Inter-American regional systems of of human rights. The result is a dynamic international invigoration of traditional refugee law that, in contradistinction, tends to be applied at the level of national courts and tribunals. Yet the precise role of human rights in the protection of refugees is sometimes viewed with suspicion and uncertainty. This Commentary provides a valuable insight into the use of human rights in the protection of refugees through the prism of the African Human Rights System.
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This revised and expanded second edition of The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continues to offer a concise and comprehensive introduction to both the world of refugees and the organizations that protect and assist them. This updated edition also includes up to date coverage of the UNHCR’s most recent history and policy developments, evaluation of new thinking on issues such as working in UN integrated operations and within the UN peacebuilding commission, assessment of the UNHCR’s record of working for IDP’s (internally displaced persons), discussion of the politics of protection and its implications for the work of the UNHCR, and an outline of the new challenges for the agency including environmental refugees, victims of natural disasters and survival migrants.
Written by experts in the field, this is one of the very few books to trace the relationship between state interests, global politics, and the work of the UNHCR. This book will appeal to students, scholars, practitioners, and readers with an interest in international relations.
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This book considers the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ contribution to international refugee law since the establishment of UNHCR by the United Nations General Assembly in 1951. The book explores the historical and statutory foundations that create an indelible link between UNHCR and international refugee law. This book charts the significant evolution that has occurred in the organisation’s role throughout the last sixty years, looking at both the formal means by which UNHCR’s mandate may be modified, and the techniques UNHCR has used to facilitate the changes in its role, thereby revealing a significant evolution in the organisation’s role since the onset of the crisis in refugee protection in the 1980’s. UNHCR, itself, has demonstrated its organizational autonomy as the primary agent for the adaptation of its responsibilities and work related to international refugee law. The author does suggest however that UNHCR needs to continue to extend and strengthen its role related to international refugee law if UNHCR is to ensure a stronger legal framework for the protection of refugees as well as a fuller respect for refugees’ rights in practice.
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The Property Rights of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: Beyond Restitution explores how the protection of housing and property rights can contribute to durable solutions to displacement. The focus of most of the international community’s recent protection efforts has been on returning displaced persons to their homes following armed conflict. This prioritization has been entrenched further by the 2005 United Nations Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons (the “Pinheiro Principles”). Yet as Anneke Smit chronicles in this book, the international community’s attempts to promote widespread return through establishing housing and property restitution mechanisms have largely failed. Further, this focus on return and restitution of property has come at the expense of supporting effectively local integration and resettlement as possible durable solutions.
This book argues that, particularly in cases of protracted displacement, a range of accepted approaches to the protection of housing and property rights would be preferable. In addition to more than a dozen case studies, the discussion draws throughout on international human rights and refugee law, property law and theory, and sociological and anthropological literature on displacement and the meaning of ‘home’. The Property Rights of Refugees and Internally Displaced Personsis based on more than a decade of the author’s extensive academic research and practical experience on displacement issues. It will be of considerable interest to those with academic and policy interests in the rights of refugees and displaced persons, and theories of property.
The relative decline of state power and the increase in the significance of various non-state actors is one of the greatest challenges faced by the legal framework for the international protection of refugees and other forced migrants over previous decades. A large number of asylum seekers applying for protection in Europe and other industrialized states originate from countries where the state structure is weak, if not non-existent, and where the threats faced by individuals stem primarily from actors other than the state authorities. The legal framework for international protection, which rests on a state-centric paradigm, is struggling with claims for protection arising from such situations. Drawing extensively on international and European law, international and national case law, as well as academic writings, this study analyzes the legal obligations that states have towards refugees and other forced migrants facing threats emanating from non-state actors, exploring the transformative possibilities embedded in the law in this respect.
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Forcible displacement transforms cultures and can even lead to their destruction. Beginning with the origins of the human species millions of years ago and ending up in our present day era, this book analyses examples of forcible displacement in order to examine the crime in its many different forms. The legal contours of the crime receive a comprehensive treatment, including the experience of the international tribunals and decades of scholarly work in the area.
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With ‘displacement’ as the guiding thread, the purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, it derives from the relevant provisions of international humanitarian law a legal framework for the protection of displaced persons in armed conflict, both from and during displacement. It contains a case study on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the recent Advisory Opinion on the Separation Wall, and addresses such issues as humanitarian assistance for displaced persons, the treatment of refugees in the hands of a party to a conflict and the militarisation of refugee camps. Secondly, it examines the issue of displacement within the broader context of civilian war victims and identifies and addresses the normative gaps of international humanitarian law, including the inadequacy of concepts such as ‘protected persons’ and the persistence of the dichotomy between international and non-international armed conflicts, which is at odds with the realities of contemporary armed conflicts.
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Bradley, M., Refugee Repatriation: Justice, Responsibility and Redress, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Jacques, M., Armed Conflict and Displacement: the Protection of Refugees and Displaced Persons under International Humanitarian Law, Cambridge (etc.), Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Smit, A.,The Property Rights of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons-Beyond Restitution, Abingdon, Routledge, 2012.
Dawson, G. and S. Farber, Forcible Displacement throughout the Ages: Towards an International Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Forcible Displacement, Leiden, Nijhoff, 2012.
Thakur, R.C., International Human Rights of Refugees: A Factual Analysis, New Delhi, Cyber Tech Publications, 2013.
Betts, A., G. Loescher and J. Milner, UNHCR: the Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection, London, Routledge, 2012.
