Refugee Protection

What new approaches to meet old and new needs?

UN Women/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The UN says there are almost 15 million refugees in the world, the highest number since 1993. Continued instability in the Middle East and North Africa suggests this number will grow. The international regime governing the reception and treatment of refugees was put in place at the end of World War II. Does it remain ‘fit for purpose’?

The chaotic and tragic images of Syrians fleeing across the Aegean are repeated (though less reported on) on the other side of the world, as Rohingya refugees from Myanmar flee across the Indian Ocean. In both cases, and many more, states eschew orderly reception and resettlement plans for the refugees, and show little solidarity with first asylum countries. How can states be convinced to co-operate to provide the protection all agree is necessary, rather than compete to impose ever-harsher barriers to entry?

There will be important UN conferences in 2016 where states will recommit to humanitarian principles and to international burden sharing. New ideas and innovative policy proposals are urgently needed to reinvigorate a truly global  commitment to refugee protection.

 

The pandemic shows that now is the time to end immigration detention

By: Susan M. Akram
Español

Immigration detention is rarely justified and now poses a greater risk to the public given the spread of COVID-19 in ICE facilities.

Refugees and migrants in Ecuador face rising risks among decreased protections

By: Diana Herrera
Español

The pandemic and decreased recognition of refugees in Ecuador are compounding risks to the already precarious lives of asylum seekers.

Protecting freedom from domestic violence and the right to asylum

By: Rachel Freed & Joshua Leach
Español

The restoration of asylum rights to domestic violence survivors in the US illuminates the power of strategic litigation to create positive change—but there are ...

Legal Empowerment during COVID-19: from JusticePower to #FreeThemAll

By: Tyler Walton
Español

Immigrants have decried the use of detention as migration deterrence for years, but the pandemic has given advocates a new touch point in the collective social ...

What does protection from persecution look like during a pandemic?

By: Kathryn Hampton
Español | Français

Policy decisions to exclude asylum seekers due to the pandemic are neither predetermined nor inevitable: we have a choice.

First UN human rights decision on climate migration—a modest step forward

By: Deborah Casalin
Español

For the first time, a UN body has decided the case of a climate migrant, and in doing so strengthened the duty on states to address climate change because it poses ...

Chechens pay a high price for the securitisation of Europe’s migration policies

By: Marta Szczepanik
Español | Русский

The case of Chechen nationals is an example of how the securitisation of migration policies—the return policy in particular—puts migrants at risk of severe violations ...

Rethinking solutions to the Rohingya refugee crisis

By: Brian Gorlick
Français | العربية

The Rohingya refugees are unlikely to be able to return home anytime soon. We need to look at other options to allow them to rebuild their lives and communities.

Turkey’s fast fashion is rising on the backs of Syrian refugees

By: Salma Houerbi
Español | العربية

Weak labour legislation in Turkey, paired with brands that put profits before people, is causing harmful working conditions that exploit refugees.

Values-based collective action helps resist the criminalization of compassion

By: Rachel Freed
Español

Humanitarian workers giving aid to migrants are being threatened and in some cases imprisoned. But compassionate assistance for imperiled people in all settings ...

Family separation: a flashpoint in the global migrant crisis

By: Brian Root  & Rachel Schmidt

Situations of inhumane treatment and abuses of power are where we need human rights the most, and the family separation issue in the United States is symptomatic ...

The US role in forced migration from the Middle East

By: Azadeh Shahshahani
العربية

American foreign policy is at the root of forced migration from different parts of the world, and human rights advocates must address the problem at its heart.

Refugee politics from the local to the international

By: Sarah Stroup

The Trump administration is affecting refugee politics from small towns to the world stage, and activists have a long road ahead.

New approach to refugee protection must prioritize self-sufficiency

By: Mallory Mroz

A new approach to refugee protection needs to draw on the principles of self-sufficiency to prevent aid dependency and let refugees work so that they contribute ...

Self-interest argument for refugee admission backfires in Japan

By: Saul Takahashi 
日本語

Japan fails to protect refugees—but arguing it should do so because its aging society needs new immigrants hasn’t worked.

Accounting for human rights: lessons from Syria

By: Sean Luna McAdams
Español

If refugee advocates don’t shine a light on budgets, it will be nearly impossible to ensure sustained support for refugee protection efforts.

Migrants are driving innovative campaigns for female refugees in Germany

By: Claudia Bollwinkel
Deutsch

Activists are using a multi-van in Germany to help female refugees cope with violence and harassment.

Broader view shows path to refugee reform

By: David James Cantor
Español

The refugee regime extends well beyond the 1951 Convention, and a broader contextual view is necessary in debates about change.

Crisis in Europe exposes failing refugee protection regime

By: John Torpey

The refugee protection regime works if it remains limited to those genuinely fleeing persecution — though the Syrian crisis proves again that ways must also be ...

Without adequate reflection, new refugee solutions risk failing

By: Chris Dolan
Français

We have to stop pushing new refugee solutions without assessing where we have succeeded and failed so far.

Statelessness as forced displacement

By: Kristy A. Belton

When we think of forced displacement, we don’t usually think about the stateless. But we should.

Is a reformed Refugee Convention a solution?

By: Neva O. Öztürk & Cavidan Soykan
Türkçe

The Refugee Convention was designed for an earlier era, but there seems little will to update its provisions to meet today’s reality.

Burden-sharing: Utopian dream or principled pragmatism?

By: Irene Khan 
Français

Global burden-sharing schemes won’t solve the refugee crisis – experience shows tailored, regional arrangements grounded in principled pragmatism are the best way ...

Refugee protection is politics

By: Roni Amit & Loren B. Landau
Français

The best refugee legislation in the world will have little effect when those seeking protection are characterized as security risks.

Syria continues to bleed while the Middle East closes its doors

By: Susan M. Akram
العربية

Host states impose greater restrictions on refugees’ rights at least partly because Western states aren’t fulfilling their responsibilities.

The struggle for sans-papiers human rights

By: Upendra Baxi

Protecting the rights of refugees and migrants requires a response based in hospitality not hostility.

Political realities challenge refugee reform

By: Bill Frelick
Français | Español

Does anyone really have the authority to bind states to accept their fair share of global refugee burdens and responsibilities?

The duty to rescue: a new paradigm for refugee protection

By: Jean-François Durieux
Français | Español

The refugee protection regime needs reform, but this requires new international approaches that go beyond the Refugee Convention.

Putting on the pressure: domestic constituencies and refugee policy

By: Emily Arnold-Fernandez
Français | Español

As long as states do not face pressure from their own constituencies, domestic refugee policy is unlikely to change.

Rediscovering a winning formula for refugee protection

By: James Milner 
Français | Español

State cooperation can only solve the refugee crisis if states actually want to cooperate. And evidence shows that they don’t.

Improve refugee protection by managing it better

By: Tim Finch 
Français | Español

The disorder and tragedy inherent in large-scale, spontaneous refugee flows is not inevitable—what we need is a managed protection regime.

Refugee reform must become a global project

By: Alex Neve
Español | Français

Many different states are implicated in the wars and human rights violations that provoke refugee crises, which means they must also be part of the solution.

A global solution to a global refugee crisis

By: James C. Hathaway 
Français | Español | العربية

If implemented as intended, the UN Refugee Convention points the way to a truly global solution to the refugee crisis.

Stay connected! Join our weekly newsletter to stay up-to-date on our newest content.  SUBSCRIBE