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Protection of Refugees and Minorities

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International Humanitarian Action

Abstract

Refugee and Minority law are two distinct fields of Public International Law that govern the protection of certain defined vulnerable individuals and groups. Their protection, in law and in the field, has been a challenge for humanitarian action and beyond not solely due to practical obstacles but also due to the disputed scope of their legal entitlements.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Guidelines for the Domestic Facilitation and Regulation of International Disaster Relief and Initial Recovery Assistance, 2007.

  2. 2.

    See McAdam (2005), McAdam (2012) and Plender and Mole (2000).

  3. 3.

    Hathaway (2012), p. 177.

  4. 4.

    First international instruments were drafted such as the 1928 Arrangement relating to the Legal Status of Russian and Armenian Refugees, followed by the 1933 Convention relating to the International Status of Refugees.

  5. 5.

    UNHCR, An Introduction to International Protection, 1 August 2005, www.unhcr.org/3ae6bd5a0.pdf.

  6. 6.

    Id., p. 9.

  7. 7.

    Relevant treaties include inter alia the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984), the International Bill of Rights or the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

  8. 8.

    See for a list of ratifications and signatures, UN Treaty Collections Database, http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetailsII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V-2&chapter=5&Temp=mtdsg2&clang=_en.

  9. 9.

    Still supported development, see The Executive Committee encourages States and UNHCR to continue to promote, where relevant, regional initiatives for refugee protection and durable solutions, and to ensure that regional standards which are developed conform fully with universally recognized protection standards and respond to particular regional circumstances and protection needs. UNHCR, Executive Committee Conclusions, General Conclusion on International Protection, 17 October 1997, N° 81 (k).

  10. 10.

    UNHCR, Protecting Refugees: A Field Guide for NGOs, p. 17.

  11. 11.

    See the 1947 Resolution on Asylum to Persons in Danger of Persecution, the 1980 European Agreement on Transfer of Responsibility for Refugees, the 1981 Recommendation to Member States on the Protection of Persons Satisfying the Criteria in the Geneva Convention who are not Formally Recognised as Refugees or the European Convention on Human Rights.

  12. 12.

    For more information on the EU asylum instruments, see http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/index_en.htm. For more on the interaction of international refugee law and European asylum law, see Battjes (2006).

  13. 13.

    Soft law mechanisms in the field of refugee protection include the London Declaration of International Law Principles on Internally Displaced Persons (2000) and the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (1998).

  14. 14.

    A prominent example is the 1967 UN General Assembly Resolution on Territorial Asylum, reiterating people’s right to seek asylum and the granting of such as a humanitarian and non-political act.

  15. 15.

    Right to life, liberty and security of person, freedom from torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, to name just a few.

  16. 16.

    For a detailed assessment and clarification of the elements, see UNHCR, Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, HCR/IP/4/Eng/REV.1 Geneva, 1992, http://www.unhcr.org/publications/legal/3d58e13b4/handbook-procedures-criteria-determining-refugee-status-under-1951-convention.html.

  17. 17.

    Hathaway (2012), p. 184.

  18. 18.

    For more details, see: The Michigan Guidelines on Well-Founded Fear, University of Michigan Law School, March 2004, http://www.refugee.org.nz/fear.html.

  19. 19.

    Goodwin-Gill (1998), pp. 66 f.

  20. 20.

    D. Kugelmann, Refugees, 2010, p. 2, http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law:epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e866?rskey=06ax1f&result=1&prd=EPIL.

  21. 21.

    Id., pp. 70 f.

  22. 22.

    See Hathaway (2012), p. 178 and more detailed studies on jurisprudential developments in Coll and Bhabha (eds) (1992), Lambert (1995) and Symes and Jorro (2003).

  23. 23.

    Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers (Art. 19 Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

  24. 24.

    Goodwin-Gill (1998), p. 49.

  25. 25.

    IDPs are defined in the 1998 guiding principles on internal displacement as person or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.

  26. 26.

    UNHCR, Note on the Mandate of the High Commissioner for Refugees and His Office, http://www.unhcr.org/526a22cb6.html.

  27. 27.

    G. Gilbert, Current Issues in the Application of the Exclusion Clauses, in: Feller et al. (eds) (2003).

  28. 28.

    These crimes include crimes against the peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity; serious non-political crimes or acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the UN. For more information see Hathaway (2012), p. 189.

  29. 29.

    On Terrorism: US Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Matter of S-K-, 23 I&N 936 (BIA 2006); War Crime and Crimes against Humanity: United States Supreme Court, Negusie v. Holder, 555 U.S. 511, 2009; Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Joined Cases C-57/09 and C-101/09 Bundesrepublik Deutschland v. B und D, 9 November 2010, ECR I-000; Particularly serious crime: UK High Court, R (on the application of) ABC (a minor) (Afghanistan) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, 6 December 2011, EWHC 2937.

  30. 30.

    UNHCR, Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, HCR/IP/4/Eng/REV.1 Geneva, 1992, http://www.unhcr.org/publications/legal/3d58e13b4/handbook-procedures-criteria-determining-refugee-status-under-1951-convention.html, p. 18.

  31. 31.

    Arboleda (1991), pp. 185–207.

  32. 32.

    Art 1 (2) OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, http://www.achpr.org/files/instruments/refugee-convention/achpr_instr_conv_refug_eng.pdf.

  33. 33.

    Conclusion 3 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, https://www.oas.org/dil/1984_cartagena_declaration_on_refugees.pdf.

  34. 34.

    UNHCR, Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, HCR/IP/4/Eng/REV.1 Geneva, 1992, http://www.unhcr.org/publications/legal/3d58e13b4/handbook-procedures-criteria-determining-refugee-status-under-1951-convention.html, p. 28.

  35. 35.

    Hathaway (2005), pp. 154 ff.

  36. 36.

    See in detail, E. Lauterbach/D. Bethlehem, The Scope and Content of the Principle of Non-Refoulement: Opinion, in: Feller et al. (eds) (2003); UNHCR, UNHCR Note on the Principle of Non-Refoulement, November 1997, http://www.refworld.org/docid/438c6d972.html.

  37. 37.

    Art. 26, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

  38. 38.

    For a detailed analysis of the supervisory responsibilities of the UNHCR, see W. Kälin, Supervising the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees: Article 35 and Beyond, in: Feller et al. (eds) (2003).

  39. 39.

    Non-signatories include Afghanistan, Eritrea, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Syria and Ukraine among others.

  40. 40.

    UNHCR, Resettlement Handbook, Geneva 2011, p. 77.

  41. 41.

    Eide (2005), p. 36.

  42. 42.

    Nowak (1993), p. 495.

  43. 43.

    Sieghart (1983), p. 377.

  44. 44.

    Thornberry (1992), pp. 173–176.

  45. 45.

    Hailbronner (1992), p. 133.

  46. 46.

    Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 23, Art. 27, 6 April 1994, UN-Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.5.

  47. 47.

    F. Capotorti, Study on the Rights of the Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, 1979, UN-Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/384/Rev.1.

  48. 48.

    Henrard, http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law:epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e847?rskey=W2t5z2&result=1&prd=EPIL, para. 11.

  49. 49.

    Doehring (2002), p. 57, para. 36.

  50. 50.

    van der Stoel (1999), p. 13.

  51. 51.

    Ghebali (2009), p. 114.

  52. 52.

    OSCE, The Hague Recommendations regarding the Education Rights of National Minorities, October 1996.

  53. 53.

    OSCE, The Oslo Recommendations regarding the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities, February 1998.

  54. 54.

    OSCE, The Lund Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Public Life, September 1999.

  55. 55.

    OSCE, Guidelines on the Use of Minority Languages in the Broadcast Media, October 2003.

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  1. Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Hans-Joachim Heintze & Charlotte Lülf

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  1. Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Hans-Joachim Heintze

  2. Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Pierre Thielbörger

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Heintze, HJ., Lülf, C. (2018). Protection of Refugees and Minorities. In: Heintze, HJ., Thielbörger, P. (eds) International Humanitarian Action. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14454-2_12

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