tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/un-refugee-convention-22267/articlesUN Refugee Convention – The Conversation2023-12-14T13:19:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197352023-12-14T13:19:13Z2023-12-14T13:19:13ZWho counts as a refugee? Four questions to understand current migration debates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565506/original/file-20231213-23-i1glub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=95%2C95%2C4824%2C3157&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/border-between-serbia-croatia-3-nov-1820261090">Ajdin Kamber/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of refugees worldwide has been <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends-report-2022">increasing since 2012</a>. At the end of 2022, there were 35.3 million refugees globally.</p>
<p>While some politicians have suggested that the UK is being <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2023-03-13/mps-to-vote-on-controversial-migration-bill-which-sparked-lineker-row">overwhelmed by refugees</a>, 76% of the world’s refugees are hosted in low- and middle-income countries. In Europe, Germany, France and Spain receive <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum/">more asylum applications each year than the UK</a>.</p>
<p>As long as there is war and persecution, there will be people in need of protection. So how should countries handle the flow of people? </p>
<p>This is the question driving much political debate. The UK government appears committed to its policy of <a href="https://theconversation.com/rwanda-plan-rishi-sunak-has-insisted-on-pushing-ahead-heres-where-he-could-take-it-next-217865">sending refugees to Rwanda</a>. Charities are calling on political leaders to commit to <a href="https://togetherwithrefugees.org.uk/open-letter-to-political-leaders-we-need-a-fair-new-plan-for-refugees/">a fair new plan for refugees</a>. Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67692099">death of a man</a> on a barge housing asylum seekers has reinvigorated concerns about the welfare of people who seek refuge in the UK. </p>
<p>Here are four questions (and answers) to help you make sense of it all.</p>
<h2>Who counts as a refugee?</h2>
<p>Under the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/about-unhcr/who-we-are/1951-refugee-convention">refugee convention of 1951</a> – which the UK and most other countries are party to – a refugee is a person who fears being persecuted, to the point that it is unsafe to return to their home country. Persecution means a person faces a threat to their life or freedom, or fears another serious violation of their human rights, such as torture or sexual violence. </p>
<p>A refugee must be persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a social group. Examples of social groups include women, LGBTQ+ people and children.</p>
<p>A person who has left their home country to seek protection, but has not yet been formally recognised as a refugee, is often referred to as an “asylum seeker”. </p>
<h2>What obligations do governments owe refugees?</h2>
<p>As a party to the refugee convention, the UK is legally obliged to abide by its provisions, including the principle of “non-refoulement” – that is, not sending a refugee to a country where their life or freedom is threatened. This can be the refugee’s home country or any other country where there is a risk to their life or freedom.</p>
<p>This was why the UK supreme court found that <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-rules-rwanda-plan-unlawful-a-legal-expert-explains-the-judgment-and-what-happens-next-217730">the Rwanda plan was unlawful</a> – because there was a risk that Rwanda would not decide asylum claims properly and thus return genuine refugees to their countries of origin.</p>
<p>Governments should also ensure an adequate standard of living for new arrivals, including by providing access to shelter, healthcare and education for refugee children. The <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_RES_71_1.pdf">UN has emphasised</a> the importance of a people-centred, sensitive and humane approach to people seeking asylum.</p>
<p>The Bibby Stockholm, the barge where an asylum seeker reportedly took his own life, has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/performative-cruelty-the-hostile-architecture-of-the-uk-governments-migrant-barge-210300">criticised</a> by charities, experts and politicians. Many argue that the close quarters, health concerns and isolation of being housed at sea are not an <a href="https://theconversation.com/bibby-stockholm-legionella-is-not-the-only-health-threat-on-the-asylum-barge-211641">adequate standard of living</a>.</p>
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<img alt="The Bibby Stockholm barge in a port" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Conditions on the Bibby Stockholm have raised concerns about the welfare of refugees the UK is housing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/falmouthcornwall-070723-bibby-stockholm-leaves-falmouth-2328547695">JMundy/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>How many people who travel to the UK are genuine refugees?</h2>
<p>So far, in 2023, <a href="https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/channel-crossings-tracker">over 29,000 people</a> have travelled to the UK on small boats to seek asylum. </p>
<p>Government statistics indicate that <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to#outcomes-of-asylum-applications">75% of people</a> who claim asylum in the UK are granted refugee status or another type of permission to remain in the UK. For <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to#outcomes-of-asylum-applications">some nationalities</a>, the figure is higher – 100% of applicants from Eritrea, 99% of those from Afghanistan and 99% from Syria are recognised as refugees.</p>
<p>However, many of the people who have travelled to the UK in recent years are part of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to#asylum-applications-awaiting-an-initial-decision">165,000 people</a> in the UK’s “asylum backlog”. This means they are still waiting for the government to decide their asylum claim. While the government is working to reduce the backlog, current schemes <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hrlc/documents/2023/streamlined-asylum-processing-an-evaluation-of-recent-reforms.pdf">risk prioritising quick decisions over accurate decisions</a>.</p>
<h2>Why don’t refugees travel to the UK legally?</h2>
<p>There are many reasons refugees may not travel to the UK through regular, legal routes. One of the main reasons is that to come to the UK legally, a person must be granted a visa – for example, because they intend to work or study in the UK.</p>
<p>The government has created special visas for people fleeing Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. In the past year, the government has allowed <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/safe-and-legal-humanitarian-routes-to-the-uk">112,000 people to come to the UK</a> through these routes, including 64,000 people from Ukraine. </p>
<p>However, refugees from other countries do not have access to the same opportunities to apply for a visa in order to seek asylum. The absence of safe and legal routes forces them to travel irregularly.</p>
<p>Contrary to popular belief, refugees are not required to seek asylum in <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/are-refugees-obliged-to-claim-asylum-in-the-first-safe-country-they-reach/">the “first safe country” they enter</a>. A <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130128103514/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hors243.pdf">government report</a> found that refugees seek asylum in the UK for many reasons, including that they have relatives in the UK, speak English and because of the UK’s reputation as a safe and tolerant democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Hodgson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As long as there is war and persecution, there will be people in need of protection.Natalie Hodgson, Assistant Professor in Law, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2185092023-12-04T19:14:07Z2023-12-04T19:14:07ZCOP28: with a ‘loss and damage’ fund in place, protecting climate refugees is more urgent than ever<p>It has taken decades, but the complex and increasingly urgent issue of “<a href="https://www.iom.int/news/thinking-about-tomorrow-acting-today-solutions-address-climate-mobility">climate mobility</a>” has gradually become central to international climate negotiations.</p>
<p>At the <a href="https://www.cop28.com/">COP28 summit</a> currently taking place in Dubai, there are around 25 sessions or side events devoted to the needs and rights of people and communities displaced by climate change.</p>
<p>Day one saw a <a href="https://www.cop28.com/en/news/2023/11/COP28-Presidency-unites-the-world-on-Loss-and-Damage">major breakthrough</a>, with agreement on a “loss and damage” fund to compensate “particularly vulnerable” countries. While questions remain over the long-term sustainability of funding sources and how the fund will be administered, it still represents progress. </p>
<p>But it is unclear how the fund will be integrated with the Global Stocktake – the report card on progress toward Paris Agreement goals. Only clear targets will help ensure meaningful outcomes that “leave no one behind”, in line with the proposed COP28 roadmap to accelerate progress through inclusive climate action. </p>
<p>Embedding the specific issue of climate mobility within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (<a href="https://unfccc.int/">UNFCCC</a>) has never been easy. No consensus has been reached on protecting the citizens of states threatened by the impacts of climate change.</p>
<p>Nor is there much apparent political will to change the definition of “refugee” in the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/who-we-are/1951-refugee-convention">1951 Refugee Convention</a> to include those affected by climate change – or to develop new international law that would protect them. </p>
<p>With the world beginning to witness some of the consequences of this failure, it is important COP28 maintains momentum on an issue that is not going away.</p>
<h2>Questions over the Australia-Tuvalu deal</h2>
<p>The recently signed <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tuvalu/australia-tuvalu-falepili-union">Falepili Union</a> between Australia and Tuvalu provides a clear example of how thorny the question of climate mobility has already become.</p>
<p>The agreement provides a “pathway” for citizens of Tuvalu affected by climate change to gain citizenship in Australia. But it comes with a series of serious trade-offs for Tuvaluan national sovereignty, making its viability as a model of climate mobility justice questionable.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cop28-climate-summit-just-approved-a-loss-and-damage-fund-what-does-this-mean-218999">COP28 climate summit just approved a 'loss and damage' fund. What does this mean?</a>
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<p>While claiming to offer Tuvaluan people the ability to “move with dignity”, the Falepili agreement also requires Tuvalu to “mutually agree with Australia” any security and defence-related arrangements with other countries. </p>
<p>This is broadly defined to include defence, policing, border protection, cybersecurity and critical infrastructure; all key areas of geopolitical tension with China in the Pacific. </p>
<p>As such, the agreement has been criticised for <a href="https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/good-faith-lacking-in-australia-tuvalu-agreement/">breaching the good faith obligations</a> of states undertaking climate mobility agreements with vulnerable partners. One commentator argued the Falepili Union was:</p>
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<p>dressed up as a bilateral treaty – meaning it works for both countries – [but] should really have been called the Australia Defence Treaty in Tuvalu.</p>
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<h2>Staying with dignity</h2>
<p>Countries at the forefront of climate change – low-lying island states vulnerable to sea level rise, in particular – have long put principles of dignity and equity at the centre of their calls for climate justice.</p>
<p>A significant gap in the Australia-Tuvalu agreement was the <a href="https://toda.org/global-outlook/2023/this-is-not-climate-justice-the-australia-tuvalu-falepili-union.html">lack of consultation with Tuvaluan citizens</a>. Debate in Tuvalu’s parliament raised serious questions about this, as well as the agreement’s approval by cabinet, widespread public confusion, and the lack of an officially released version from the government.</p>
<p>Research has consistently shown communities hit by climate change need not just the opportunity to move with dignity, but also the option to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376172319_Staying_with_Dignity_Climate-related_immobility_in_the_Pacific">stay with dignity</a>. This is particularly true for Pacific peoples and nations, where displacement, planned relocation and migration are becoming stark realities.</p>
<p>Successful strategies for remaining in place when and where possible are already in place around the Pacific. Communities in Samoa, for example, have found <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2022.0392">ways to adapt</a> that minimise both physical risk and cultural harm.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cop28-earths-frozen-zones-are-in-trouble-were-already-seeing-the-consequences-218119">COP28: Earth's frozen zones are in trouble – we're already seeing the consequences</a>
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<h2>Self-determination and climate justice</h2>
<p>With many other climate-vulnerable nations seeking sustainable solutions to their problems, the Australia-Tuvalu agreement risks setting the wrong precedent for bargained, bilateral visa arrangements.</p>
<p>If and when such agreements involve larger, possibly more politically volatile countries, what might be the trade-offs? And what will be the implications for regional and global security?</p>
<p>The “climate refugee” question is already highly political, and has been a challenge to bring into formal agendas since the Paris Agreement in 2015. And while economic loss and damage tends to dominate discussions, non-economic and <a href="https://climateanalytics.org/comment/non-economic-loss-and-damage-insights-from-the-pacific-islands">less tangible loss and damage</a> also needs to be a focus.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cop28-the-climate-summits-first-health-day-points-to-what-needs-to-change-in-nz-218809">COP28: the climate summit’s first Health Day points to what needs to change in NZ</a>
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<p>This encompasses everything from mobility, sovereignty and culture, to health, dignity and social cohesion. All have serious implications for Indigenous peoples – and all communities – whose sense of belonging to their lands is a vital part of identity and wellbeing.</p>
<p>International climate negotiations now need to concentrate on protecting the sovereignty of vulnerable states, and ensuring geopolitical calculations do not trump climate justice for those affected.</p>
<p>Small island states and Pacific peoples have contributed very little to the causes of climate change. But they are at the forefront of the crisis and are among the first to feel the full impacts.</p>
<p>The right of people to decide their own adaptation future, including options to adapt in place, may be addressed at COP28. But these now need to translate into the mechanisms that will support and empower that self-determination.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dalila Gharbaoui does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A recently signed Australia-Tuvalu citizenship agreement offers people displaced by climate change a chance to ‘move with dignity’. But staying with dignity has to be an option too.Dalila Gharbaoui, Postdoctoral Climate Crisis Research Fellow, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2145052023-09-29T15:08:09Z2023-09-29T15:08:09ZSuella Braverman is wrong about the UN refugee convention being ‘not fit for purpose’ – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551126/original/file-20230929-19-9hxi8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=108%2C62%2C5067%2C3383&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The convention protects the rights of refugees around the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/migrants-walk-towards-turkeys-pazarkule-border-1830065513">Lumiereist/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK’s home secretary, Suella Braverman – the minister responsible for setting immigration policy – has said the United Nations <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/au/about-unhcr/who-we-are/1951-refugee-convention">refugee convention</a> is not “fit for our modern age” and should be renegotiated.</p>
<p>As researchers of migration at the United Nations University, we know the importance of the convention – a landmark agreement that underpins the human rights of people around the world. Braverman’s comments <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66919416">to an American think tank</a> do not reflect reality. </p>
<p>The refugee convention (formally, the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees) was established by the UN to protect the millions of people displaced in Europe after the second world war. It was expanded beyond Europe <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/1967-protocol">with its 1967 protocol</a>, which applied the convention’s protections to all refugees around the world.</p>
<p>The convention lays out the definition of who counts as a refugee. It also sets out their rights (such as to housing, work and education), and how states are obliged to support them. For the <a href="https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=V-5&chapter=5">149 countries</a> who have joined (including the UK), it is the legal basis for how they create policy and support refugees.</p>
<p>A central principle of the convention is what is known as “<a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/principle-non-refoulement-migration-context-5-key-points">non-refoulement</a>”. This means a refugee cannot be sent to a country where they might suffer persecution, nor to a country which might send them to such a country. When groups such as the UN refugee agency say the UK’s policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/media/unhcr-analysis-legality-and-appropriateness-transfer-asylum-seekers-under-uk-rwanda">violates international law</a>, this is the law they are referring to. </p>
<h2>Who is a refugee?</h2>
<p>To be considered a refugee, according to the convention, a person must have crossed an international border due to persecution (and a lack of protection from their own state). </p>
<p>While the convention does not define “persecution”, the UN refugee agency <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/media/handbook-procedures-and-criteria-determining-refugee-status-under-1951-convention-and-1967">describes it</a> as a “threat to life or freedom”, specifically due to reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. </p>
<p>The lack of <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/what-is-the-legal-meaning-of-refugee/">clear definitions</a> for some of these terms has been seen as a shortcoming of the convention. It can lead to variation in how states interpret what should be considered “persecution”. </p>
<p>Braverman <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66919416">waded into this</a>, arguing that the modern interpretation of persecution is “more akin” to discrimination: “We will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect, simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection.” </p>
<h2>Discrimination and persecution</h2>
<p>In her speech, Braverman cited claims made by the <a href="https://cps.org.uk/research/stopping-the-crossings/">Centre for Policy Studies</a> that at least 780 million people might be eligible for refugee status under the convention. This figure appears to be partly based on summing the number of people living in countries where homosexuality is outlawed.</p>
<p>But it is highly unrealistic that all of these people will move and seek asylum elsewhere. We know that many people in such situations never leave their own countries, because it is often <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article/34/4/4262/6135659">very difficult, dangerous and expensive</a> to do so.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Braverman suggested that the convention provides overly generous protection and will lead to an unsustainable caseload of refugees. This is misleading for several reasons. </p>
<p>The convention itself does not explicitly address gender identity or sexual orientation as grounds for persecution, so it’s largely up to national governments how they assess such cases. The UK Home Office states in its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sexual-identity-issues-in-the-asylum-claim">guidance for asylum case workers</a> that “someone could face societal discrimination but this will not amount to persecution […unless…] the discrimination has resulted in sufficiently serious consequences for the person concerned”. </p>
<p>Braverman’s comments <a href="https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/09/26/suella-braverman-lgbtq-refugee-asylum-seeker/">downplay the oppresion</a> that LGBTQ+ people face in many countries, where they are at risk of <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/lgbt-people-face-persecution-and-are-no-less-deserving-of-protection">violence, imprisonment, or even death</a>. </p>
<p>They also overplay the role of LGBTQ+ people in asylum migration. In reality, cases related to sexual orientation make up a small proportion of asylum claims in the UK: only 1,334 people, or 2% of <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/lgbt-people-face-persecution-and-are-no-less-deserving-of-protection/">all asylum applications</a>, in 2022. </p>
<h2>Misleading migration figures</h2>
<p>When it comes to migration, politicians have a tendency to use and reproduce, or misinterpret numbers which are not necessarily based upon reliable or rigorous research.</p>
<p>It is not true, for example, that North America and Europe are
currently witnessing <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/europes-refugee-crisis-not-big-youve-heard-and-not-without-recent-precedent">record numbers</a> of refugees. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35874178/">Recent research</a> shows that since the creation of the refugee convention in 1951, the number of refugees worldwide has fluctuated between 0.1% and 0.3% of the global population. At the end of 2022 there were approximately <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/">35 million refugees</a> out of a total of 108 million people who were internally or internationally displaced.</p>
<p>Some people claim that climate change will lead to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/ecology-global-risks-idUSKBN2600K4">billions</a> of climate migrants – the convention does not address environmental factors, so the term “climate refugee” does not <a href="https://ehs.unu.edu/news/news/5-facts-on-climate-migrants.html">technically exist</a>. Additionally, these figures are based on assumptions that everyone affected will move elsewhere, something that our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11111-019-00321-w">own research</a> has shown to be false. This simplistic understanding lies behind the kind of alarmist and unsubstantiated figures underlying Braverman’s calls for changing the convention. </p>
<p>Braverman’s speech elicited rare pushback from the UN, who <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/press-releases/unhcr-news-comment-importance-international-refugee-convention">called for</a> “stronger and more consistent” application of the convention – not a renegotiation. We agree. Focusing on any numbers, however true, obscures the fact that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/imig.13169">refugees</a> are people with rights, hopes, dreams and aspirations. It is thanks to the refugee convention that they are able to access their human rights, and rebuild their lives in safety and dignity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214505/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 1951 convention underpins the human rights of people around the world.Robert Oakes, Senior Researcher, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), United Nations UniversityTalitha Dubow, Researcher, Maastricht University and Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), United Nations UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2099932023-07-19T16:06:58Z2023-07-19T16:06:58ZIllegal migration bill to become law: what you need to know<p><em>The UK government has succeeded in passing its illegal migration bill. After a series of late-night votes and months of controversy, the bill is now set to receive royal assent and become the Illegal Migration Act 2023. The following round-up will give you the key details of the bill and the analysis of the academic experts who have written about it for The Conversation.</em></p>
<p>The illegal migration bill is the central pillar of Rishi Sunak’s plan to stop small boat crossings, one of his <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-outlines-his-five-key-priorities-for-2023">five promises</a> as prime minister. On its journey to becoming law, the bill faced opposition from the House of Lords, Conservative backbenchers in the House of Commons, activists and organisations who support refugees in the UK, and the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/press-releases/uk-illegal-migration-bill-un-refugee-agency-and-un-human-rights-office-warn">United Nations</a>.</p>
<p>A key facet of the bill – the Rwanda migration partnership – remains in legal limbo. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-uk-court-ruled-rwanda-isnt-a-safe-place-to-send-refugees-and-what-this-means-for-the-governments-immigration-plans-208768">Court of Appeal ruled</a> that Rwanda would not be able to fairly and accurately assess refugees’ asylum claims if they were sent there from the UK, and that therefore the plan was unlawful. The government will appeal this decision at the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>But regardless of whether the appeal is successful, the act sets the stage for future migration partnerships, where asylum seekers who enter the UK irregularly (such as by small boat) may be sent to another country the government deems “safe”.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-uk-court-ruled-rwanda-isnt-a-safe-place-to-send-refugees-and-what-this-means-for-the-governments-immigration-plans-208768">Why UK court ruled Rwanda isn't a safe place to send refugees – and what this means for the government's immigration plans</a>
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<p>This act is the second major immigration law passed in the last 15 months. The Nationality and Borders Act, <a href="https://theconversation.com/nationality-and-borders-act-becomes-law-five-key-changes-explained-182099">enacted in April 2022</a>, was the Boris Johnson government’s plan to fix a “broken” asylum system. But after it failed to have any discernible impact on the number of people making the dangerous journey across the Channel in small boats, the government introduced the illegal migration bill. </p>
<p>Erica Consterdine, an immigration policy expert at Lancaster University, has <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-passed-a-major-immigration-law-last-year-so-why-is-it-trying-to-pass-another-one-207343">explained the difference</a> between the two pieces of legislation for us. She describes the new law as “the most extreme piece of immigration legislation to date”. It will effectively ban asylum seeking in the UK, by requiring the home secretary to detain and deport anyone who enters the UK illegally (most asylum seekers), before their cases can be considered.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-passed-a-major-immigration-law-last-year-so-why-is-it-trying-to-pass-another-one-207343">The government passed a major immigration law last year – so why is it trying to pass another one?</a>
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<p>This would include potential victims of modern slavery. One of the most controversial aspects of the legislation is that it would deny modern slavery protections to anyone who enters the UK illegally. This is, as expert Alex Balch from the University of Liverpool <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-uks-new-immigration-law-will-put-more-people-at-risk-of-modern-slavery-209746">explains</a>, because the government has accused asylum seekers of falsely claiming to be modern slavery victims in order to avoid deportation. </p>
<p>The House of Lords tried to soften these parts of the bill through a series of amendments, but was ultimately defeated by the government.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-uks-new-immigration-law-will-put-more-people-at-risk-of-modern-slavery-209746">How the UK's new immigration law will put more people at risk of modern slavery</a>
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<h2>Legal concerns</h2>
<p>From the moment it was announced, critics have said the illegal migration bill would clash with the UK’s human rights obligations. The home secretary, Suella Braverman, said herself that the bill would “push the boundaries” of international law. </p>
<p>Helen O'Nions, an expert in human rights law at Nottingham Trent University <a href="https://theconversation.com/illegal-immigration-bill-does-more-than-push-the-boundaries-of-international-law-201332">writes that</a> the provisions in the bill hinge on a “shaky interpretation” of the UN Refugee Convention of 1951, an international treaty that sets out the rights of refugees. While international refugee law is difficult to enforce, there are a number of issues in the bill that are likely to face prolonged legal battles.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/illegal-immigration-bill-does-more-than-push-the-boundaries-of-international-law-201332">Illegal immigration bill does more than 'push the boundaries' of international law</a>
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<p>It’s notable that these two migration policies have been passed under two ethnic minority home secretaries, and endorsed by other ministers who are the descendants of immigrants themselves. Politics researchers Neema Begum (University of Nottingham), Michael Bankole (King’s College) and Rima Saini (Middlesex University) have <a href="https://theconversation.com/minority-ethnic-politicians-are-pushing-harsh-immigration-policies-why-representation-doesnt-always-mean-racial-justice-206885">dug into this phenomenon</a> and argue that the appearance of ethnic diversity in government is used to prop up hard right views on immigration and race.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/minority-ethnic-politicians-are-pushing-harsh-immigration-policies-why-representation-doesnt-always-mean-racial-justice-206885">Minority ethnic politicians are pushing harsh immigration policies – why representation doesn't always mean racial justice</a>
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<h2>Will it even work?</h2>
<p>At the heart of the act is the government’s claim that people won’t come to the UK to seek asylum if they know they will be detained and deported to Rwanda or elsewhere. But there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-governments-plan-to-remove-asylum-seekers-will-be-a-logistical-mess-and-may-not-deter-people-from-coming-to-the-uk-201248">very little evidence</a>) to show that this approach of “deterrence” would be effective, writes Peter William Walsh, a researcher at Oxford University’s Migration Observatory.</p>
<p>Explaining the logistical problems with the proposals, he says that with the future of the Rwanda partnership uncertain, it’s not clear how the “detain and remove” approach will actually be put into practice. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-governments-plan-to-remove-asylum-seekers-will-be-a-logistical-mess-and-may-not-deter-people-from-coming-to-the-uk-201248">The government's plan to remove asylum seekers will be a logistical mess – and may not deter people from coming to the UK</a>
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<h2>The trauma of the asylum system</h2>
<p>This new legislation comes against the backdrop of an asylum “backlog” – tens of thousands of applications that have not yet been decided, leaving people uncertain about their future in the country. </p>
<p>This longform article by Steve Taylor, senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, details the physical and psychological impacts of being stuck in the UK’s asylum system. Taylor’s interviewees described experiences of trauma, suicidal thoughts, hostility and threats, from years spent in asylum limbo.</p>
<p>And, as he points out, the act “is predicted to lead to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/22/draconian-migration-bill-could-leave-tens-of-thousands-destitute-or-locked-up">more long-term detention</a>”. This will come at high cost to taxpayers, and to the human lives caught up in the policy. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-like-youre-a-criminal-but-i-am-not-a-criminal-first-hand-accounts-of-the-trauma-of-being-stuck-in-the-uk-asylum-system-202276">'It’s like you’re a criminal, but I am not a criminal.' First-hand accounts of the trauma of being stuck in the UK asylum system</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209993/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A recap of our expert analysis of the UK’s new migration law.Avery Anapol, Commissioning Editor, Politics + SocietyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1988472023-03-13T12:37:23Z2023-03-13T12:37:23ZInternational law doesn’t protect people fleeing environmental disaster – here’s how it could<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513966/original/file-20230307-24-bns4rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6232%2C4151&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangladesh-dhaka-duari-para-on-20211017-2190353321">Martinbertrand.fr/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Researchers have tried for decades to find a relevant legal status for people forced to flee their homes as a result of floods, droughts and storms – calamities which climate change promises to make more severe and commonplace – as well as appropriate laws which might ensure their protection. But climate migrants are sometimes <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/climate-refugees-the-world-s-forgotten-victims/">forgotten</a> among the various flows of people seeking asylum. </p>
<p>To protect climate migrants who were forced to leave their country, some legal scholars have proposed amending the definition of refugee in the Refugee Convention of 1951 to consider environmental degradation <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/698753/EPRS_BRI(2021)698753_EN.pdf">a form of persecution</a>. This would expand eligibility for asylum as a refugee under international law beyond the existing grounds of persecution by religion, race, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinions.</p>
<p>But the principle of <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Migration/GlobalCompactMigration/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf">non-refoulement</a>, mentioned in the refugee convention, already prohibits a host country of returning asylum seekers to somewhere they would not be safe. This could be interpreted as guaranteeing access to an environment offering decent air and clean water according to the <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/help/glossary/eea-glossary/environmental-quality">European Environment Agency</a>. </p>
<p>Despite this provision, international law is failing to protect climate migrants, which means that the scope of the refugee convention, however broad, must be widened.</p>
<p>Ioane Teitiota is a citizen of Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. In 2015, he was denied asylum in New Zealand after floods forced him to flee with his family. He protested to the UN Human Rights Committee, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/01/historic-un-human-rights-case-opens-door-climate-change-asylum-claims#:%7E:text=In%202015%2C%20Ioane%20Teitiota's%20asylum,violated%20his%20right%20to%20life.">which ruled</a> that his situation did not constitute an imminent risk to life.</p>
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<img alt="A tropical island at high tide with palm trees and a village in the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Kiribati is a low-lying island threatened by rising seas.</span>
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<p>The legal right of the people of Kiribati to seek effective protection from saltwater intruding into farmland, coastal erosion and crop failures as a result of sea-level rise does not exist. New Zealand maintained that it could only reward refugee status to people if the state had failed to respect their fundamental human rights. The effects of climate change are systemic, the argument goes, rather than a personal persecution against Teitiota himself. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the Human Rights Committee said that people who fled their country because of the effects of climate change can argue that their experiences amount to persecution and seek refugee status under the refugee convention. Vulnerable people could also claim that climate change threatens their right to life under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. This includes situations where environmental disasters are interlaced with conflict, leading to water or air being contaminated by chemical weapons.</p>
<p>States might consider asylum claims resulting from climate disasters in the future. But until consensus is reached among scholars or jurists about the legal status of climate migrants, they will probably avoid introducing a broad interpretation of what comprises a climate migrant into international law.</p>
<p>Environmental disasters are unpredictable and the damage they cause can blight a territory for years, taking decades for people to properly recover. The people displaced may need to seek shelter in another country or region while the reconstruction is underway. </p>
<p>Climate change will cause an increasing number of disasters such as floods, droughts and wildfires. Legal solutions, especially in the case of climate change disasters, will be difficult to predict in advance. A firm understanding of what works where climate migrants are forced to settle will be invaluable.</p>
<p>States neighbouring vulnerable countries are more likely to be affected by inflows of climate migrants. By shouldering a disproportionate share of this responsibility, these countries will keep the impasse over the legal status of climate migrants alive on the international stage and have an outsize role in constructing an international consensus around their legal status.</p>
<p>As these countries attempt to acquire funding and build shelters to house migrants, they’ll also be dealing with a rising number of asylum claims. This will inevitably prompt research within the country to determine the most relevant legal status climate migrants need to guarantee their protection. This could attract international recognition as climate change and the entwined refugee crisis escalate.</p>
<p>There was a dramatic spike in 2015 in the number of migrants fleeing war and famine, especially in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Eritrea and migration policy remains a very sensitive and divisive topic of debate as a result.</p>
<p>Preparing the efficient protection of climate refugees is a challenge for the years to come. But in the meantime, people need help. The recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/2/9/turkey-syria-quake-updates">caused</a> several thousand deaths, but may have left millions without homes.</p>
<p>Only the creation of an efficient international framework of laws can guarantee refuge for people fleeing such environmental disasters in future. Building that outcome is likely to begin in the countries nearest to the suffering.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgiane Noel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why the UN Refugee Convention should be updated to protect climate migrants.Morgiane Noel, Ph.D. in Law, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2012482023-03-09T11:50:38Z2023-03-09T11:50:38ZThe government’s plan to remove asylum seekers will be a logistical mess – and may not deter people from coming to the UK<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514292/original/file-20230308-14-32z1dt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C9%2C5990%2C3520&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants rescued by Border Force after crossing the English Channel.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dover-kent-uk-april-30th-2022-2151230933">Sean Aidan Calderbank/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In its new <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-03/0262/220262.pdf">illegal migration bill</a>, the UK government has introduced some surprisingly radical proposals designed to discourage people from crossing the Channel in small boats to claim asylum.</p>
<p>Chiefly, it targets people who arrive in Britain through irregular routes, barring them from seeking asylum. And the UK does not offer many legal routes, with exceptions such as the schemes for Ukrainian and Afghan refugees.</p>
<p>Immigration lawyers are still picking over the details of the bill – initial debate is focused on whether it violates the UK’s legal obligations under international human rights or refugee law. While these questions are important, the practical and operational constraints are arguably the biggest obstacle to implementing it.</p>
<p>On paper, the bill effectively opts the UK out of the global asylum system as we know it, by preventing people from claiming asylum if they have arrived through irregular routes. That global system is, after all, based on the principle that people must usually reach a country’s territory in order to claim asylum. And this often involves irregular entry, because people fleeing threatening or otherwise dire circumstances may not have proper documents.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/illegal-immigration-bill-does-more-than-push-the-boundaries-of-international-law-201332">Illegal immigration bill does more than 'push the boundaries' of international law</a>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/press/2023/3/6407794e4/statement-on-uk-asylum-bill.html">UN</a> has said the new UK bill represents a “clear breach” of the refugee convention, “which explicitly recognises that refugees may be compelled to enter a country of asylum irregularly”.</p>
<p>Instead of hearing asylum claims, the bill stipulates that people entering through irregular routes should be “detained and removed” from the UK. This applies regardless of nationality, including people from countries such as Afghanistan and Eritrea who would be very likely to be granted asylum in the UK under the current system.</p>
<h2>Will people actually be removed?</h2>
<p>But making something law does not mean it can be implemented. One of the biggest questions the bill raises is where people would be removed to.</p>
<p>If people do not come from countries deemed “safe” by the UK, they cannot be sent back to their country of origin without a decision on their asylum claim. If this is the case, the bill says they should be sent to “safe third countries”. There is currently just one third country, Rwanda, that is willing to take asylum seekers from the UK. </p>
<p>But even if the Rwanda scheme gets up and running, it is only expected to have capacity for <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-11-28/97762">around 200 people</a> at first, though more could perhaps be processed per year. Without other safe third countries to remove people to, it is not obvious that many people could be removed in practice.</p>
<p>Past data illustrates this. Since January 1 2021, the UK government has already had a policy in place to remove asylum seekers it believes could have applied for asylum in another country. This would presumably include most people arriving by small boat from France. As of September 30 2022, the government had assessed around 18,000 people for removal – but <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-uks-asylum-backlog/">had removed just 21</a>.</p>
<p>Oddly, one <a href="https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1/status/1633429475068092419">strange quirk</a> of the new bill is that it appears to make it harder, not easier, for the government to remove people who are not considered refugees. By preventing the government from considering asylum claims at all, it means that claims cannot be refused. People from “unsafe” countries who would have been refused cannot, under the new bill, be sent back to their countries of origin – instead, the UK will have to detain them (a costly endeavour) until a third country is willing to take them.</p>
<p>In 2022, the UK’s detention facilities were estimated to have a total capacity of no more than 2,500, while in the month of August last year, small boat arrivals exceeded 8,000. To accommodate more people, there would need to be a major increase in the use of detention. This is a reversal of previous government policy, which over the last ten years has <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2016-01-14/HCWS470">aimed to minimise the use of immigration detention</a>.</p>
<p>If people continue to arrive in the UK in substantial numbers, not being able to process and resolve their asylum claims could create considerable operational difficulties and financial costs – aside from the obvious human cost.</p>
<h2>The deterrent may not work</h2>
<p>At the heart of the proposal is a gamble: that the UK will not actually need to impose this penalty on many people, because the deterrent effect will be so strong.</p>
<p>While this may seem like a sort of policy catch-22 – “introduce a policy to deter arrivals so that you don’t need to implement the policy to deter arrivals” – it <a href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1632316599465017345">is the argument made by some government ministers</a>.</p>
<p>It’s hard to predict how much of a deterrent effect the provisions in the bill will have. They are more extreme than polices adopted in most other high-income countries, which is where most of the evidence on policy deterrence comes from.</p>
<p>With that said, to date there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-no-evidence-that-asylum-seeker-deterrence-policy-works-8367">surprisingly little evidence</a> that asylum deterrence policies put people off in large numbers, for the simple reason that asylum seekers often have little understanding of what policies they will face when they arrive. Indeed, this has been the finding of the Home Office’s own internal research, which was released to an NGO working on migration after a Freedom of Information request and shared with our team. </p>
<p>There’s certainly a risk, therefore, that the UK would end up detaining (or otherwise housing and supporting) quite large numbers of people for indefinite periods if this bill is enacted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201248/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter William Walsh receives funding from Trust for London and Oak Foundation. He is Senior Researcher at The Migration Observatory, University of Oxford. </span></em></p>The UK may be setting itself up to detain many people for indefinite periods.Peter William Walsh, Researcher, The Migration Observatory, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853482022-07-03T13:24:32Z2022-07-03T13:24:32ZCanadians support accepting more newcomers but we need a more equitable, rights-based approach<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469855/original/file-20220620-7827-7higtj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C2986%2C2052&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People wait for Ukrainian nationals fleeing the ongoing war to arrive at Trudeau Airport in Montréal on May 29, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadians-support-accepting-more-newcomers-but-we-need-a-more-equitable--rights-based-approach" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Global Trends Report recently announced that as of the end of 2021, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/62a9d1494/global-trends-report-2021">89.3 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced</a>. While Ukraine’s neighbouring countries originally opened their arms to people fleeing the war, they’ve since begun <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/06/10/en-europe-centrale-la-generosite-envers-les-refugies-ukrainiens-s-etiole_6129676_3210.html">decreasing benefits for Ukrainians</a> as their cities become overwhelmed. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Canada is continuing its efforts to build an “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-unprecedented-ukraine-to-canada-air-bridge-could-mean-a-brighter-future-for-all-refugees-181369">air bridge</a>” for an “unlimited number” of Ukrainians, supporting them through a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ukrainians-in-canada-3000-payment-1.6475193">one-time $3,000 payment</a>. This is seen by some as a beacon of hope, and by others as unsustainable. </p>
<p>Despite Ukrainians having the need to travel to find safety, and being called refugees elsewhere, in Canada they do not arrive as resettled refugees. Instead, the federal government created a program — <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2022/03/canada-ukraine-authorization-for-emergency-travel.html">Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET)</a> — that fast tracks temporary immigration for Ukrainians.</p>
<p>Recent public polling data from the Angus Reid Institute shows that Canadians’ support Ukrainian newcomers, in addition to supporting newcomers from Syria and Afghanistan. As migration scholars, we argue that this continued support is evidence that Canadian refugee policy, and newly developed programs like the CUAET — which leads with the head and the heart — work. </p>
<h2>Human rights, economic growth and humanitarian impulse</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">UN Refugee Convention</a> and Canada’s <a href="https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-2.5/">Immigration and Refugee Protection Act</a> frame a rights-based approach to refugee protection. Leading with its head, Canada has a legal obligation to promote and protect the right to asylum, and the principle of non-discrimination. </p>
<p>No matter their country of origin or immigration status, a person on Canadian territory has that rights are protected by the <a href="https://ccrweb.ca/en/refugee-rights-day">Canadian Charter</a>.</p>
<p>Canada’s immigration policy aspires to be evidence-based. Research shows immigrants and refugees drive <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/infographics/immigration-economic-growth.html">economic growth</a> and contribute to the Canadian economy in a <a href="https://www.innovatingcanada.ca/diversity/refugees-are-good-for-canada/">myriad of ways</a>. There are good legal and economic reasons for protection.</p>
<p>And leading with its heart, Canada’s refugee policy and newcomer programs are framed by a humanitarian impulse. Canadian officials regularly refer to a “<a href="https://twitter.com/seanfrasermp/status/1509325456687968260">welcome</a>” and “<a href="https://twitter.com/seanfrasermp/status/1499416023526776833">safe harbour</a>” for the “<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/SeanFraserMP/status/1529188427140419584">most vulnerable</a>” and “<a href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1511872243898490890">those in need</a>.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1511872241251889162"}"></div></p>
<h2>Humans helping humans</h2>
<p>Images of human suffering — from <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/brief-but-spectacular/phan-th%E1%BB%8B-kim-ph%C3%BAc-on-pain-and-forgiveness-1.5417755">Phan Thị Kim Phúc also known as “the napalm girl”</a> to <a href="https://time.com/4162306/alan-kurdi-syria-drowned-boy-refugee-crisis/">Alan Kurdi</a> — have galvanized public support for refugees. </p>
<p>A key component in Canada’s resettlement response has been the <a href="https://www.rstp.ca/en/refugee-sponsorship/the-private-sponsorship-of-refugees-program/">Private Sponsorship of Refugees</a> program. Private Sponsorship of Refugees connects human beings with human beings, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/ces.2018.0014">fostering empathy</a> and generating long <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/immigration-refugees-canada-1.6258067">waiting lists</a> as Canadians step in to help.</p>
<p>But public support for refugees isn’t limited to sponsors. </p>
<p>An Angus Reid Institute survey conducted on May 18, 2022, asked about Canadians’ acceptance of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2022/03/canada-marks-10000-arrivals-of-afghan-refugees.html">newcomers from Afghanistan</a>, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/welcome-syrian-refugees/key-figures.html">Syria</a> <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/ukraine-measures.html">and Ukraine</a>, as those have been the latest arrivals of newcomers in Canada. (This survey is not publicly available.)</p>
<p>The survey found that 35 per cent and 31 per cent of Canadians support accepting more refugees from Afghanistan and Syria, respectively. And 56 per cent of Canadians think Canada should accept more Ukrainians — only 14 per cent think we should accept less. </p>
<p>Mirroring public opinion, there is strong cross-party support for Ukrainian newcomers. In an unusual display of unity, <a href="https://www.hilltimes.com/2022/03/01/mps-press-feds-to-cut-red-tape-and-permit-visa-free-travel-for-ukrainians-fleeing-conflict/347681">most opposition members of Parliament</a> pushed for Canada to waive visa requirements for Ukrainians in March.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man is wrapped in a Ukrainian flag behind a luggage cart as a woman hugs another woman behind him" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ukrainian students arrive in St. John’s, N.L., on June 14, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The emotional and political reaction to different global situations has resulted in differential treatment for people fleeing violence. While Canada reduced red tape to welcome an “unlimited number” of Ukrainians, including through direct airlifts, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/parliamentary-committee-report-slams-government-s-handling-of-afghan-refugee-crisis-1.5942745">Afghans face uncertainty, long delays and a 40,000-person cap</a>.</p>
<p>To ensure a more equitable, rights-based approach, the Canadian government should draw on <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/may-2016/lessons-learned-from-the-indochinese-and-syrian-refugee-movements/">lessons learned</a> from decades of refugee policy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2021.625358">practice</a> and programs.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Canada should leverage and scale up existing mechanisms for resettlement, including private sponsorship. The government should process existing applications quickly and open up new spaces, respecting the principle of additionality — the idea that new spaces should not displace people who are already waiting to be processed.</p></li>
<li><p>Some visa requirements, including the <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2022/03/ircc-eases-overseas-biometrics-requirement-for-some-ukrainians-0323975.html#gs.478afq">need for biometrics</a>, should be waived in emergency situations for <em>all</em> nationalities.</p></li>
<li><p>Echoing the recent recommendations by the <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/AFGH/report-1/">House of Commons Special Committee on Afghanistan</a>, Canada should establish an emergency mechanism to act in a timely and equitable way to all situations of displacement, not only those that garner media and political attention.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Canada has a history of being a welcoming country to newcomers. Canadians are upholding that legacy by supporting the acceptance of more. Despite this, we need a more equitable, rights-based approach so we can continue to lead with the head and the heart.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185348/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canadian refugee and immigration policy often leads with the head and the heart — and that works.Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies, York University, CanadaChristina Clark-Kazak, Associate Professor, Public and International Affairs, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1828922022-05-18T13:27:42Z2022-05-18T13:27:42ZThe rights of refugees in Africa are under threat: what can be done<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462963/original/file-20220513-21-iuuv5g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Sudanese children play at a refugee camp in northern Uganda.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Geovien So/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In April 2022, 70 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were reportedly <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/africa/news/zimbabwe-deports-drc-refugees-who-allegedly-looted-food-at-refugee-camp-20220414">detained and then deported</a> by the Zimbabwe government. Once back in the DRC, their government rejected 15 of them, who were sent back to detention facilities in Harare. The incident raises legal questions around human rights and the obligations of states that are signatories to the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol</a>. <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/zimbabwe.html">Zimbabwe hosts</a> 22,400 refugees and asylum seekers. Parvati Nair, a professor of migration studies, answers questions about the rights of refugees and the obligations of states.</em> </p>
<hr>
<h2>What are the obligations to refugees under international law?</h2>
<p>In the aftermath of World War II, the international community came together to shape and commit to the human rights of displaced persons. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol</a> marked a milestone in framing the responsibilities of states to protect those fleeing untenable or dangerous contexts. These include conflict, disasters, political oppression and other severe conditions. </p>
<p>It also gave refugees and asylum seekers the right to have their cases go through legal processes. A key principle within this framework is that of <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Migration/GlobalCompactMigration/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf">non-refoulement</a>, a core legal protection for displaced persons seeking asylum. It puts the onus on hosting states to safeguard asylum seekers. </p>
<p>Situations such as those of the Congolese refugees in Zimbabwe offer examples of how states disregard the law, transporting refugees across borders with no regard for their rights. </p>
<p>Africa exemplifies many of the challenges faced by refugees, as well as many of the ways in which states fail to honour cross-border obligations to asylum seekers. </p>
<p>The continent hosts a high population of displaced persons. Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana are examples of countries that host large numbers of refugees. </p>
<p>As political scientist <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-challenges-of-refugees-and-internally-displaced-persons-in-africa/sabella-o-abidde/9783030566494">Sabella Abide states,</a> many refugees and asylum seekers suffer protracted mental and physical abuse and suffering. Four years ago, the United Nations confirmed the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/5c658aed4">Global Refugee Compact</a> as a blueprint for how states should support refugees and host communities. </p>
<p>Key priorities included upholding refugees’ human rights and ensuring their security. But many countries are still far from achieving this.</p>
<p>States are <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278381.001.0001/acprof-9780199278381">contravening international law</a> at the cost of the dignity, safety and rights of forcibly displaced people. </p>
<p>This is not an African phenomenon. There are numerous examples of refugee rights being disregarded from Australia to the UK and the US. </p>
<h2>Are humanitarian priorities being eroded?</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/refugee-or-migrant-sometimes-the-line-is-blurred-79700">Human displacement</a> has been on the rise globally. This trend is set to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00208728211022791">continue</a>. </p>
<p>Across the world, there are more than <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/">84 million forcibly displaced persons</a>. This means that one person out of at least every 94 is forcibly displaced.</p>
<p>In the face of such rising numbers, as well as the rise in <a href="https://www.leuvenpubliclaw.com/no-refuge-for-the-refugee-right-wing-populism-in-the-eu-and-the-denial-of-a-safe-haven/">populist </a>and neoliberal ideologies, the humanitarian priorities that led to the establishment of refugee law are <a href="https://gho.unocha.org/">profoundly threatened</a>. There are rising concerns around border protection policies and mechanisms among states, and questions of national sovereignty.</p>
<p>Indeed, Africa is partnering with the European Union in the proliferation of securitised borders. The union’s coast guard agency <a href="https://frontex.europa.eu">Frontex</a> is working with West African states to <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/externalisation/gkliati-kilpatrick">construct European borders on African soil</a>.. This is aimed at preventing the northward movement of refugees and migrants to Europe. Such actions further alienate and ring-fence displaced persons. </p>
<p>As the Australian criminologist <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10345329.2005.12036348">Sharon Pickering</a> has pointed out, state responses to displaced persons as unwelcome intruders – and increasingly stringent border policies – have led to the obscuring of international obligations to asylum seekers and refugees. </p>
<p>Deportation is sadly an aspect of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3e59de764.pdf">refugee management,</a> yet it goes against refugee rights. </p>
<p>Today, the notion of the refugee as a person needing safety has altered in practice, if not in law. <a href="https://www.languageonthemove.com/refugees-in-the-media-villains-and-victims/">Representations in the media</a> abound of displaced persons as law breakers, deviants and criminals who are burdens on a state and its citizens. </p>
<p>As a result, the legal principle of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3ae6a0c34.pdf">non-refoulement has been overshadowed</a>. This has had profoundly negative, even deadly, consequences on the already <a href="https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-refugee-and-non-refoulement-obligation-redefining-the-refugee-and-analyzing-the-consequences-of-the-non-refoulement-obligation_vani-manoraj/36846637/#edition=64710973&idiq=52689712">harsh realities</a> of refugees.</p>
<p>Take the example of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers crossing multiple African countries in their northward trek to Europe. Their journey is fraught with the dangers of push back from countries like Libya or Morocco. </p>
<h2>Does Africa have a particular set of challenges?</h2>
<p>Africa hosts approximately a third of the world’s population of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/449267670.pdf">displaced persons, asylum seekers and refugees</a>. </p>
<p>Poverty, instability, conflict and climate emergencies form the context in which people are forced to leave home and seek shelter across international borders. They then find themselves housed, often for indefinite periods of time, in already overcrowded camps. </p>
<p>The movement of refugees across Africa is not new. What has shifted over the past half century is the rise in numbers. Today, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/migration-dynamics-refugees-and-internally-displaced-persons-africa">one in every 76 Africans</a> is a refugee. </p>
<p>If we add to this the great number of <a href="https://au.int/en/treaties/african-union-convention-protection-and-assistance-internally-displaced-persons-africa">internally displaced persons</a> – often facing more dire conditions than refugees because they do not have the same access to aid from international agencies – then we see that addressing displacement, asylum and rights is of paramount importance. </p>
<p>Also different from before are the ways in which <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274528807_Refugees_the_State_and_the_Politics_of_Asylum_in_Africa">states manage</a> this growing displaced population. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24328609">Previously</a>, refugees were supported to settle in rural areas and become self-sufficient through agricultural and other endeavours. Today, many refugees are enduring <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/protracted-refugee-situations-explained/">protracted displacement</a>. They are encamped, subject to state or donor support in countries with struggling economies. They are living in legal and economic limbo. </p>
<p>Additionally, reliance on donors from the global north has increased. The result is that refugees have become pawns in larger socio-economic and political deals.</p>
<p>The latest in this context is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-uks-plan-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-is-21st-century-imperialism-writ-large-181501">UK’s proposed deal</a> to send refugees to Rwanda. </p>
<p>Lastly, taking into account the poor human rights records that often feature in many African countries, refugee law – forged in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/human-rights-in-africa/03DEA3AF2E9ADFD63E8D63406CB540B8">language of human rights</a> and applicable to already very vulnerable people – drops from view. This has dire social and personal consequences. </p>
<h2>Are there solutions?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/cjtl36&div=37&g_sent=1&casa_token=rXEfK4Iag74AAAAA:3Th618oxjdZi_99cYz3n3rs6DBlE4nMGBHwthkpIC7sey67xJ7g3r_Dk8_vrubhxjzn23iM&collection=journals">international community</a> has an obligation to support African states and Africa’s refugees. This should be in ways that are equitable and offer actual benefits for refugees and hosts alike. </p>
<p>The international community must understand that the rising tide of refugees may be most intense in Africa, but is globally prevalent. Good refugee management is key to a sustainable and equitable world. Environmental crises and other global challenges mean that forced human mobility is here to stay. </p>
<p>Shaped by colonial legacies, and political and economic challenges, Africa remains enmeshed in relations of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/events/understanding-the-drivers-of-inequality-in-africa-and-implications-for-human-development/">dependency and inequality</a> with donor states and entities. </p>
<p>A clear prioritisation is urgently needed to separate responsibility for refugees from short-term economic gains or cross-border struggles. A key step would be to reposition humanitarian obligations as central to development to counter existing dynamics of dependency. </p>
<p>In line with the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a> and their promise <a href="https://www.un.org/en/desa/leaving-no-one-behind">to leave no one behind</a>, African states have the chance to make refugee rights key obligations of states and spearhead the issue, which is of global relevance.</p>
<p>African states must also take responsibility for much more efficient processing of asylum claims and resettlement, and support one another. They should link refugee protection to other core interests, such as health, youth futures and social inclusion. In this way, refugee protection and support become key features of development, which should be people-centred. </p>
<p>Only by honouring legal humanitarian commitments and empowering its refugees can African states develop in ways that are sustainable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182892/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Parvati Nair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Refugee law puts humanitarianism above considerations of state sovereignty.Parvati Nair, Professor of Hispanic, Cultural and Migration Studies, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626632021-06-17T20:08:24Z2021-06-17T20:08:24ZNew Zealand has one of the lowest numbers of refugees per capita in the world — there is room for many more<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406914/original/file-20210617-13-hg5py9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C22%2C7390%2C4863&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern marks World Refugee Day 2020 at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre in Auckland.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When COVID-19 forced New Zealand to shut its borders, it left refugees we had committed to resettle in precarious circumstances with shattered hopes.</p>
<p>The latest United Nation figures put people forcibly displaced by conflict at nearly 80 million — a near doubling from ten years ago. Each minute of every day last year 21 people were separated from their friends, family and communities because of who they are or what they believe.</p>
<p>As we approach <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/refugee-day">World Refugee Day</a> this Sunday, we need to reflect on what is fair as we contemplate reopening those borders.</p>
<p>COVID restrictions aside, New Zealand accepts 1,500 refugees per year. While that’s an increase on the previous quota of 1,000, this only keeps track with population growth since the quota began in 1987.</p>
<p>With COVID under control for now, New Zealand accepted 35 refugees in February, with 242 expected to have arrived by the end of our intake year — far short of our total commitment. </p>
<p>All will be required to quarantine for 14 days before starting their five-week orientation program at the Mangere <a href="https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/what-we-do/our-strategies-and-projects/refugee-resettlement-strategy/rebuilding-the-mangere-refugee-resettlement-centre">Refugee Resettlement Centre</a> in Auckland.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Refugees having lunch at the refugee centre in Auckland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406919/original/file-20210617-17-bf2xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406919/original/file-20210617-17-bf2xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406919/original/file-20210617-17-bf2xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406919/original/file-20210617-17-bf2xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406919/original/file-20210617-17-bf2xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406919/original/file-20210617-17-bf2xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406919/original/file-20210617-17-bf2xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refugees from Syria, arrivals under an extra quota during the Syrian crisis in 2016, eat lunch at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>NZ’s refugee record</h2>
<p>While New Zealand does a relatively good job supporting refugees who manage to make it here, we accept small numbers. </p>
<p>According to the latest pre-COVID <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/statistical-yearbooks.html">statistical yearbook</a> from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), New Zealand has one of the lowest numbers of refugees per capita internationally: 0.3 refugees per 1,000 people, putting us 95th in the world.</p>
<p>By comparison, Sweden ranks sixth by accepting 23.36 refugees per 1,000 people, Canada 49th (2.68), United Kingdom 55th (1.83), Australia 59th (1.74) and the United States 77th (0.84).</p>
<p>Norway and Ireland, with similar populations to New Zealand, are placed 15th (11.29) and 69th (1.22) in the world respectively. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/resettling-refugees-in-other-countries-is-not-reliable-nor-is-it-fair-so-why-is-australia-doing-it-162505">Resettling refugees in other countries is not reliable, nor is it fair. So, why is Australia doing it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To put this in context, if we were to fill Eden Park to its capacity of 50,000, about 15 people from refugee backgrounds would be there. We have plenty of space for more.</p>
<p>On the other hand, 2% of students enrolled at the University of Auckland identify as coming from a refugee background. Fill Eden Park with students, then, and there would be 1,000 students from refugee backgrounds. That shows to what extent these people are invested in their futures — and New Zealand’s.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1404087672696721413"}"></div></p>
<h2>There is no ‘queue’</h2>
<p>All of these numbers, however, pale in comparison to countries closest to refugee movements, where the majority of refugees (around 85%) live. </p>
<p>Lebanon, for instance, has about 170 refugees per 1,000 people. Typically, these countries are far less well resourced to support and protect those displaced people.</p>
<p>Over the past ten years, the Refugee Status Unit in New Zealand has approved an average of 106 asylum seekers a year for refugee status (from an average of 375 applicants). These are people who apply for refugee status from within New Zealand due to fears of persecution if they were to return home.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-british-community-groups-are-helping-refugees-integrate-and-the-government-is-making-it-harder-151968">How British community groups are helping refugees integrate – and the government is making it harder</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s often said asylum seekers should “join the queue” — but there is no queue. Fewer than 1% of the world’s refugees will have opportunities to resettle in places like New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the UK and US.</p>
<p>This often leaves the one person fortunate enough to receive the opportunity reflecting on the 99 people left behind.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1398134652347453441"}"></div></p>
<h2>The right to be a refugee</h2>
<p>It’s worth noting New Zealand has never had a boatload of asylum seekers arrive on its shores in modern times. Despite this, the fear of asylum seekers remains. This is largely thanks to highly politicised representations of overloaded boats heading for Australia and crossing the Mediterranean into Europe.</p>
<p>Political parties in the UK, North America, Europe and Australia routinely stir up fear and spread misinformation on refugee and migrant issues at election times.</p>
<p>Even in New Zealand people have been unjustly and inaccurately stigmatised, moved from being “at risk” to “a risk”.</p>
<p>But seeking refuge is a human right. New Zealand is a signatory to the 1951 <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html#">UN Refugee Convention</a> and its <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolStatusOfRefugees.aspx">1967 protocol</a>, which assert the right to have a claim of refugee status considered and, if successful, to remain in New Zealand. </p>
<p>It is a convention designed to protect us all.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/comics-and-graphic-novels-are-examining-refugee-border-crossing-experiences-158257">Comics and graphic novels are examining refugee border-crossing experiences</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A fair go for all</h2>
<p>On World Refugee Day we should recognise New Zealand can do better in a number of ways:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>end the unjust practice of <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.nz/sites/default/files/AIANZ%20-%20Please%20take%20me%20to%20a%20safe%20place%20-%20Full%20Report_0.pdf">imprisoning some asylum seekers</a> while they wait for their applications to be processed</p></li>
<li><p>commit to resettling those who missed the opportunity to come (including from the refugee family support category) during our border closures, as well as the current annual intake</p></li>
<li><p>ensure equal support for people seeking asylum or consideration under the family reunification program, regardless of how they arrive in New Zealand</p></li>
<li><p>provide adequately resourced services for refugees during the first several years of resettlement, supporting health, education, employment, housing, language acquisition and a sense of belonging </p></li>
<li><p>provide opportunities for people from refugee backgrounds to participate equally in employment, education and wider society.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We can all can play a part in helping refugees feel they belong here. A genuine welcome is about ensuring they receive a fair go.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jay Marlowe receives funding from the Royal Society Te Apārangi as part of a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship.</span></em></p>World Refugee Day on June 20 is an opportunity for New Zealanders to reflect on what more could done to protect some of the world’s most vulnerable people.Jay Marlowe, Associate Professor, Co-Director Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1307492020-02-11T15:13:54Z2020-02-11T15:13:54ZBrazil’s humane refugee policies: Good ideas can travel north<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314004/original/file-20200206-43069-6iy17t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5760%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this March 2018 photo, Venezuelan children wait for a meal at a migrant shelter set up in Boa Vista, Roraima state, Brazil. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The global north tends to view the global south as a source of refugees, and it often implements policies aimed at preventing those refugees from reaching the global north. </p>
<p>Brazil recently set a <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2019/12/5dea19f34/unhcr-welcomes-brazils-decision-recognize-thousands-venezuelans-refugees.html">bold precedent</a> that should make those northern states adjust the lens. Its policy toward Venezuelan refugees, in contrast to its wealthier peers, is pragmatic, humane and sensible.</p>
<p>Venezuela’s political, economic and social collapse has generated a population hemorrhage: More than 4.5 million, or one in seven Venezuelans, have left, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-brazil-usa/u-s-backs-program-to-help-venezuelan-migrants-settle-in-brazil-idUSKBN1ZR2I8?utm_source=Unknown+List">and most remain in the region.</a> Colombia <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/25/dont-let-venezuelas-crisis-take-down-colombia-too-refugees/">hosts around 1.5 million.</a> About 260,000 have entered Brazil through its northern border with Venezuela, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-brazil-usa/u-s-backs-program-to-help-venezuelan-migrants-settle-in-brazil-idUSKBN1ZR2I8?utm_source=Unknown+List">at a rate of about 500 per day.</a> Three elements of the Brazilian response stand out.</p>
<p>First, Brazil has provided basic shelters and services — not detention — to meet the urgent and immediate needs of people streaming across the Venezuelan border into Roraima province. Brazil partners with United Nations agencies, as well as international, regional and domestic aid agencies that contribute financial and logistical assistance. The Brazilian government has also initiated a policy to redistribute arrivals to the interior of Brazil <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/brazil/venezuelan-migration-brazil-analysis-interiorisation-programme-july-2019">to reduce the burden on Roraima</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314005/original/file-20200206-43113-cszasf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314005/original/file-20200206-43113-cszasf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314005/original/file-20200206-43113-cszasf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314005/original/file-20200206-43113-cszasf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314005/original/file-20200206-43113-cszasf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314005/original/file-20200206-43113-cszasf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314005/original/file-20200206-43113-cszasf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this February 2019 photo, Venezuelans stand behind the Spanish sign reading ‘Venezuela-Brazil Limit’ near a border checkpoint in Pacaraima, Roraima state, Brazil, on Venezuela’s southern border.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Next, Brazil has expanded the scope of entitlement to refugee status. The 1984 <a href="https://www.oas.org/dil/1984_cartagena_declaration_on_refugees.pdf">Cartagena Declaration</a> adopted a regional approach to refugee protection, mindful of the history of Latin American states as both producers and recipients of refugee flows.</p>
<p>The international refugee definition contained in the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/protection/basic/3b66c2aa10/convention-protocol-relating-status-refugees.html">UN 1951 Refugee Convention</a> is individualistic and requires proof that applicants fear personal persecution. But the Cartagena definition supplements that narrow approach by including people who have fled their countries because their lives, safety or freedom have been threatened by generalized violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive violation of human rights or other circumstances that have seriously disturbed public order. </p>
<p>In June 2019, Brazil’s National Committee for Refugees <a href="https://news.un.org/pt/story/2019/07/1681741">issued a detailed report</a> concluding that the crisis in Venezuela falls under the purview of the Cartagena Declaration. People labelled as migrants elsewhere because they fall outside the narrow terms of the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/protection/basic/3b66c2aa10/convention-protocol-relating-status-refugees.html">UN Refugee Convention</a> definition are included as refugees under Cartagena. </p>
<h2>Bolder step</h2>
<p>In December 2019, Brazil took an even bolder step: It dispensed with the requirement of individualized refugee status determination for each Venezuelan asylum applicant. </p>
<p>Applicants in Brazil, with documentary proof of identity and without a criminal record, will receive refugee status without an interview. Refugee status, in turn, entitles them to permanent resident status, access employment, public health care, education and other social services available to Brazilians. </p>
<p>After four years, they may apply for naturalization. Within the first month of the policy, about <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/12/06/brazil-grants-asylum-21000-venezuelans-single-day">21,000 Venezuelans were processed</a> under this new system. </p>
<p>Put this in comparative perspective: Unlike the United States and Australia, Brazil has not set up detention centres, separated families and caged children in order to punish Venezuelans for fleeing intolerable circumstances. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-world-without-immigration-detention-is-possible-116626">A world without immigration detention is possible</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>That means that Brazil has not wasted scarce resources on vicious and futile deterrence strategies. Brazil also applies a refugee definition that responds to contemporary patterns of forced migration. And unlike other states with sophisticated refugee status determination regimes, Brazil’s group-based recognition of Venezuelans avoids the creation of a mammoth backlog of Venezuelan asylum applications. </p>
<p>Resources that would have been wasted processing individual Venezuelan asylum claims will be directed at managing settlement and integration, and on determining asylum claims from other places.</p>
<h2>Some are just passing through</h2>
<p>Not all Venezuelans who arrive in Brazil seek asylum. </p>
<p>Many transit <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-brazil-usa/u-s-backs-program-to-help-venezuelan-migrants-settle-in-brazil-idUSKBN1ZR2I8?utm_source=Unknown+List">through Brazil</a> in order to rejoin family or friends in nearby states, such as Argentina or Chile. Others go back and forth between Brazil and Venezuela to deliver food, medicine and other necessities to family and communities who remain there. And some do not wish to see themselves as refugees and so do not claim that legal status.</p>
<p>Brazil also allows Venezuelans to obtain <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/top-10-2018-issue-1-venezuelan-crisis-deepens-south-america-braces-more-arrivals-and">two-year renewable temporary resident permits</a> that also give them access to employment and to public services like health care and education. </p>
<p>There is good reason to believe that whether they are admitted on temporary permits, or permanently as refugees, most Venezuelans will go home voluntarily if and when the circumstances that caused them to flee have improved. That’s another advantage of regional integration programs that enable people to live, work and continue their lives in proximity to their country of origin.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314003/original/file-20200206-43084-xm3m0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314003/original/file-20200206-43084-xm3m0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314003/original/file-20200206-43084-xm3m0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314003/original/file-20200206-43084-xm3m0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314003/original/file-20200206-43084-xm3m0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314003/original/file-20200206-43084-xm3m0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314003/original/file-20200206-43084-xm3m0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314003/original/file-20200206-43084-xm3m0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro plays with a Venezuelan boy at an event for beneficiaries of a program to receive Venezuelan migrants in January 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Regional solidarity plays a paradoxical role in Brazil’s initiative. The Cartagena Declaration, as well as a <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/free-movement-south-america-emergence-alternative-model">regional free movement initiative under the Mercosur</a> trade bloc, show the emergence of South American co-operation in migration. </p>
<p>On the other hand, President Jair Bolsonaro has not distinguished himself in the past as a champion of refugees and displaced people. One wonders whether his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/18/bolsonaro-maduro-venezuela-video-message-democracy-reestablished">antipathy toward</a> Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro might have more to do with the Brazilian hospitality shown to Venezuelans fleeing Maduro’s regime than solidarity. One is reminded here of <a href="https://www.americanforeignrelations.com/O-W/Refugee-Policies-Refugees-and-the-cold-war.html">refugee politics during the Cold War</a>. But whatever the motive, the current policy has much to commend it. </p>
<h2>Not perfect</h2>
<p>The system is certainly imperfect. Brazil is a middle-income country, and so the quality and availability of public services is uneven. </p>
<p>Bureaucratic inefficiency and lack of co-ordination among different branches of the state cause delay and confusion. Venezuela is not the only source of asylum-seekers; Brazil also receives asylum seekers from Haiti, Africa and the Middle East.</p>
<p>Local aid organizations struggle to fill service gaps, but their resources are also strained by the surge in Venezuelan arrivals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-protection-urgently-needed-for-venezuelan-lgbtq-refugees-in-brazil-129040">More protection urgently needed for Venezuelan LGBTQ+ refugees in Brazil</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The absence of habitable and affordable accommodation is also a massive and critical problem in Brazil. Refugees may have no alternative but to live in extremely dangerous and violent places. Language training is weak, though Portuguese is relatively easy for Spanish speakers to learn. Even though refugees can lawfully seek employment, some employers still take advantage of newcomers by overworking and underpaying them. </p>
<p>These are problems. But they are better problems to have than thousands of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/06/758199418/migrant-children-traumatized-after-separations-report-says">severely traumatized children</a>, thousands of drowning deaths in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/20/the-list-europe-migrant-bodycount">the Mediterranean</a> and the abuse, torture, rape and killing of people <a href="https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/africa/libya">seeking refuge</a>in the detention centres of Libya or <a href="https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/asia-pacific/australia">Manus Island.</a></p>
<p>We have something to learn from the Brazilians. If Brazil can find an efficient, pragmatic way to welcome, protect and integrate hundreds of thousands of forced migrants arriving at its border, so can more affluent states. Good ideas — like good people — can migrate north, and we should welcome them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130749/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Audrey Macklin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If Brazil can find an efficient, pragmatic way to welcome, protect and integrate hundreds of thousands of forced migrants arriving at its border, so can more affluent states.Audrey Macklin, Professor and Chair in Human Rights Law, Director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1238482019-10-07T12:38:09Z2019-10-07T12:38:09ZThe Supreme Court and refugees at the southern border: 5 questions answered<p>I sat in a small room in Tijuana, Mexico with a 13-year-old indigenous Mayan Guatemalan girl. </p>
<p>She left Guatemala after a cartel murdered her friend and threatened to rape her. Her mother wanted her to live and believed the only way for her to survive was to send her daughter alone to the U.S., to apply for asylum. </p>
<p>Now she was alone and stuck in Mexico. </p>
<p>Every morning, the Guatemalan girl, along with other asylum seekers, would frantically gather at the Tijuana-U.S. border where they waited to hear <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/29/737268856/metering-at-the-border">their name or their number</a> called so the Mexican government could escort them to the U.S. border.</p>
<p><a href="https://law.vanderbilt.edu/bio/karla-mckanders">As the director of the Immigration Clinic,</a> I was in Tijuana, <a href="https://www.tba.org/connect/beyond-walls-and-policies">with my law student</a> from the <a href="https://law.vanderbilt.edu/academics/clinical-legal-education/immigration-practice-clinic/index.php">Vanderbilt University Law School Immigration Practice Clinic</a>. In the clinic, we represent asylum seekers in deportation proceedings before the U.S. immigration courts. We traveled to the Tijuana border in December to volunteer with the legal services nonprofit <a href="https://alotrolado.org">Al Otro Lado</a>. </p>
<p>On my trip, I witnessed the contradictions between human rights protections in the Refugee Convention and how the asylum system was operating in practice. </p>
<p>The administration’s formalizing of informal policies I witnessed in December, along with the Supreme Court’s decision in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/19a230_k53l.pdf">Barr v. East Bay Sanctuary Covenant</a> in September, closes the southern border to asylum seekers.</p>
<p>In implementing these policies, the U.S. is acting in violation of its own law governing treatment of refugees, the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158">U.S. 1980 Refugee Act</a>. The Q&A below illustrates what the U.S. should be doing, under law – and what it isn’t doing.</p>
<h2>1. What are the responsibilities of the US toward refugees?</h2>
<p><a href="https://cms.emergency.unhcr.org/documents/11982/55726/Convention+relating+to+the+Status+of+Refugees+%28signed+28+July+1951%2C+entered+into+force+22+April+1954%29+189+UNTS+150+and+Protocol+relating+to+the+Status+of+Refugees+%28signed+31+January+1967%2C+entered+into+force+4+October+167%29+606+UNTS+267/0bf3248a-cfa8-4a60-864d-65cdfece1d47">The Refugee Convention was drafted after the Holocaust</a>, when Jewish refugees were denied protection. The denial of protection resulted in some of the returnees dying in Europe. The events of the Holocaust prompted the international community to enshrine the duty to not return an individual to a country where they would face persecution or death. </p>
<p>In 1968, the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/protection/basic/3b73b0d63/states-parties-1951-convention-its-1967-protocol.html">U.S. signed onto the provisions of the Refugee Convention</a>. The United States and other countries that signed the Refugee Convention agreed that they would not return a person to their home country if the person fled because of a fear of past or future persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. </p>
<p>In 1980, the U.S. modified the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158">Immigration and Nationality Act</a> to provide full protection to asylum seekers. The procedures, contained in the act, lay out how an asylum seeker can approach the border, express a fear of returning and have a court hearing with a U.S. immigration judge to determine whether they are a refugee. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293701/original/file-20190923-54813-k825cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=982%2C1439%2C2032%2C896&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293701/original/file-20190923-54813-k825cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=982%2C1439%2C2032%2C896&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/293701/original/file-20190923-54813-k825cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293701/original/file-20190923-54813-k825cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293701/original/file-20190923-54813-k825cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293701/original/file-20190923-54813-k825cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293701/original/file-20190923-54813-k825cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/293701/original/file-20190923-54813-k825cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=687&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A refugee camp in Tijuana, Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/2hkJPiD">Karla McKanders</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. How have policies at the border changed?</h2>
<p>In January, the administration signed an executive order, <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2019/01/24/migrant-protection-protocols">the Migration Protection Protocols</a>. This order modified procedures under the 1980 Refugee Act in that asylum seekers must now wait in Mexico and for their asylum hearings before U.S. immigration judges.</p>
<p>In April, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-memorandum-additional-measures-enhance-border-security-restore-integrity-immigration-system/">administration proposed new regulations</a> that would impose fees on asylum applicants and would preclude applicants from lawfully working in the U.S. while their applications are pending.</p>
<p>In May, the chief officer for the Asylum Division with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-asylum/asylum/minor-children-applying-asylum-themselves">diminished key protections for unaccompanied minor children</a>. One change would prevent a child – like the asylum seeker I interviewed from Guatemala – from presenting her asylum case before a nonadversarial asylum officer in an interview instead of going to immigration court.</p>
<h2>3. What are the policies for asylum seekers in transit?</h2>
<p>Under the U.S. <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158">Immigration and Nationality Act</a>, a person is not entitled to refugee protection if the U.S. has a valid safe third country agreement with countries through which an asylum seeker travels. </p>
<p>According to U.S. law and <a href="https://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain/opendocpdf.pdf?reldoc=y&docid=4bab55da2">United Nations</a>, a safe third country is one in which the asylum seekers’ life or freedom would not be threatened. Before such agreements go into effect, that country must provide fair procedures for people in transit to apply for asylum or equivalent protection. </p>
<p>In July, the administration <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Federal-Rule.pdf">published a rule</a> banning all asylum seekers who traveled through a safe third country in transit to the United States from applying for asylum. </p>
<p>In the background of this rule is the fact that this year, the administration entered into safe third country agreements with Central American countries: <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2019/09/20/joint-statement-between-us-government-and-government-el-salvador">El Salvador</a>, <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2019/09/21/joint-statement-between-us-government-and-government-honduras">Honduras</a> and <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Guatemala-Cooperative-Agreement-with-Signature-Blocks-ENG.pdf">Guatemala</a>.</p>
<p>But these countries are only marginally safe, even for their own nationals.</p>
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<p>These <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45489">Northern Triangle countries</a> have extremely elevated homicide rates; high crime by drug traffickers, gangs and other criminal groups; and corrupt public institutions. <a href="https://www.undispatch.com/countries-with-the-highest-murder-rates-ranked-in-a-new-un-report/">In Honduras and El Salvador</a>, homicide rates for males under 30 are the highest in the world. </p>
<p>The high incidence of violence, has, in part, led to the constant migration from the Northern Triangle.</p>
<h2>4. What happened with the lawsuit challenging the administration’s new rule?</h2>
<p>The refugee legal advocacy organization, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, challenged the administration’s <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Federal-Rule.pdf">interim rule</a>. This case <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/19a230_k53l.pdf">made its way to the Supreme Court</a>. </p>
<p>On Sept. 11, the Supreme Court issued an order <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/19a230_k53l.pdf">Barr v. East Bay Sanctuary Covenant</a> lifting the <a href="http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/08/16/19-16487.pdf">Ninth Circuit’s</a> order <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Federal-Rule.pdf">halting the rule’s implementation</a>.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court’s order does not have a written opinion, nor does it indicate how the individual justices voted. There is only a dissent written by Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ginsberg. </p>
<p>The case is now back before the Ninth Circuit, before even possibly coming back for the Supreme Court to evaluate the merits of the case.</p>
<p>While the case is proceeding through the court system, the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/19a230_k53l.pdf">Supreme Court’s order</a> shuts down the southern border to asylum seekers indefinitely. </p>
<h2>5. What happens now?</h2>
<p>The administration’s changes to the asylum system are now being enforced.</p>
<p>That leaves individuals at risk of staying in unsafe countries with <a href="https://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/images/zdocs/Safe-Third-Countries---May-2018.pdf">marginally operational systems for processing asylum seekers</a> or being deported to their home countries, where they could face persecution or death. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.msf.org/sites/msf.org/files/msf_forced-to-flee-central-americas-northern-triangle_e.pdf">Doctors without Borders found</a> that 68% of migrants from the Northern Triangle reported being victims of violence during their trip. Nearly one-third of women had been sexually assaulted. Perpetrators include gang members and Mexican security forces. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/15/when-deportation-is-a-death-sentence">Another report</a> documented more than 60 cases where deportation back to the Northern Triangle resulted in persecution.</p>
<p>As a practicing immigration law attorney and professor looking at the evidence, it seems clear to me that the interim rule places at risk the lives of multiple asylum seekers.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karla Mari McKanders is affiliated with the American Bar Association, Commission on Immigration. </span></em></p>The US is violating its own law governing treatment of refugees.Karla Mari McKanders, Clinical Professor of Law, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1232892019-09-23T13:21:42Z2019-09-23T13:21:42ZInternally displaced people need more protection: insights from Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292228/original/file-20190912-190021-10n6td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents of Sake in the Democratic Republic of Congo leave their homes to avoid clashes between rebels and government forces.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Dai Kurokawa</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>New figures <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/ph/figures-at-a-glance">show that</a> more than 70.8 million people are displaced worldwide – that’s the highest figure ever recorded. Of these, more than 41.3 million are internally displaced. This means that more than two out of three displaced people are not refugees, but remain within their own country. Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked Carolien Jacobs to give insights into their lives and what can be done to support them.</em></p>
<p><strong>In Africa, where can most internally displaced people be found and what’s driving the numbers?</strong></p>
<p>About <a href="http://www.internal-displacement.org/media-centres/10-million-people-internally-displaced-across-sub-saharan-africa-in-2018">10 million</a> of the world’s 41.3 million internally displaced people are based in sub-Saharan Africa. That’s more than any other region. </p>
<p>A recently released United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/5d08d7ee7.pdf">report</a> shows that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, Ethiopia and Nigeria are the African countries with the highest numbers of internally displaced people. Of the 10 countries worldwide with the highest numbers of displaced people, <a href="http://www.internal-displacement.org/database/displacement-data">seven are</a> African countries; Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen are the non-African countries.</p>
<p>The reasons for internal displacement vary from country to country, but violence is a common factor. </p>
<p>In the DRC, displacement is triggered by many different <a href="https://kivusecurity.org/map">ongoing conflicts</a>. It’s hard to be sure of the exact number, but between <a href="http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/democratic-republic-of-the-congo">3</a> and <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/66532">4.5</a> million Congolese were displaced at the end of 2018. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/somalia">Somalia</a>, armed conflict and food insecurity (because people can’t grow their food or have their crops taken) are common causes of displacement. Ethiopia saw a remarkably high increase of 2.9 million newly displaced people in 2018, <a href="http://www.internal-displacement.org/sites/default/files/publications/documents/2019-IDMC-GRID-spotlight-ethiopia.pdf">caused mostly</a> by inter and intra-communal violence along the borders of the Oromia region.</p>
<p>Meanwhile <a href="http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/nigeria">in Nigeria</a>, new displacement took place mostly in the marginalised north-east of the country due to the further rise of Boko Haram. Other causes of displacement in other parts of the country are related to competition between pastoralists and farmers, criminal violence, and flooding.</p>
<p><strong>What are the biggest challenges facing these people?</strong></p>
<p>Apart from insecurity, the biggest concerns of displaced people are to find shelter, find ways to make a living, access basic services – such as health care and education – and to become locally accepted. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/research/research-projects/law/everyday-justice-and-security-provision-for-displaced-and-residents-in-bukavu-dr-congo">our research</a>, which looked at the security and justice consequences of forced migration in eastern Congo, we saw that for many people displacement is not a once in a lifetime event. It’s something they <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-report-internal-displacement-2019-grid-2019-0">experience repeatedly</a>: when the security situation improves, they return. When it deteriorates, they move to a different place. This means that they have to rebuild their lives over and over again. </p>
<p>In situations where the root causes of displacement are not (or cannot be) addressed, the two most viable options are resettlement to another location (usually with support of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2018/">UNHCR</a>, but only available for a very limited number of people) or local integration. For the UN, the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/50f94cd49.pdf">situation is solved</a> either when a person successfully and safely returns, resettles or integrates locally. </p>
<p>But, from our research, we saw that the main challenge displaced people faced was finding a safe place to stay. </p>
<p>Many displaced people don’t usually live in displacement camps, but are found in host communities. In DRC’s South Kivu province for instance, though there are close to half a million internally displaced people, no camps exist. A <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/5a8c27fb7.pdf">small number</a> of South Kivu’s internally displaced people reside in one of the camps in North Kivu province, where <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/25072019_Carte_Displacement-Sites.pdf">camps are more common</a>. This is not unusual. Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, <a href="https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/un-habitat_reinteg_success_stories.pdf">hosts about 600 000</a> of the country’s 1.1 million internally displaced people. </p>
<p>They may initially be hosted by relatives or other members from their home community, but eventually need to find their own place to rent which means they need some income to pay the costs. </p>
<p>This becomes the next challenge. People usually find work through their networks, but many won’t have enough contacts. </p>
<p><strong>How do their experiences differ from those of refugees?</strong></p>
<p>On paper, it could be argued that internally displaced people have an “easier life” than refugees: they have citizenship (and rights that are connected to this) of the country in which they are displaced and should therefore enjoy their rights in the same way as other citizens. They don’t need to go through registration processes or asylum procedures and can move more freely. </p>
<p>But they’re usually in countries where the state can’t provide them a basic level of security. This is problematic because the rights of internally displaced people are less protected than those of refugees. Whereas refugees are often entitled to humanitarian aid and access to basic services (depending on country of refuge the support obviously differs greatly), internally displaced people are largely left to fend for themselves.</p>
<p>Refugees are generally protected through a number of international and national legal instruments – starting with the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 UN Refugee Convention</a>. There are no global legally binding instruments to protect internally displaced people. In 2001 – 50 years after the Refugee Convention – the <a href="https://drc.ngo/media/1217434/guiding-principles-on-internal-displacement.pdf">UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement</a> were adopted, but they are guiding, rather than binding. </p>
<p>In Africa some steps have been taken towards their protection, in particular the African Union’s <a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36846-treaty-0039_-_kampala_convention_african_union_convention_for_the_protection_and_assistance_of_internally_displaced_persons_in_africa_e.pdf">2009 Kampala Convention</a>. </p>
<p>This makes it easier to hold nation states accountable and enforce protection regimes, but international actors are often reluctant to intervene in a country’s internal affairs, arguing that this could infringe on the sovereignty of the state. </p>
<p><strong>What can be done to support them?</strong></p>
<p>Internally displaced people need to be formally registered. Without registration they won’t be on the radar of authorities or humanitarian aid actors. Because they’re not in displacement camps it’s important to know who they are, and where they are, so that they can receive support. </p>
<p>People who manage to rebuild their lives – to find a proper house, a stable job, send their children to school – are the ones that are able to make use of their social connections through family, church, or a shared origin. But building and strengthening these connections isn’t always easy. It could therefore be worthwhile to help people in becoming better connected by facilitating meetings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carolien Jacobs received funding from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO under the Security & Rule of Law Programme of WOTRO Science for Development (grant numbers W08.400.2014.014 and W.08.400.155) between 2014 and 2017 for research to which this text refers. At present, she receives funding from the European Union's Horizon2020 research and innovation programme under grant no. 822453 for TRAFIG: Transnational Figurations of Displacement ((for more information, see: trafig.eu)</span></em></p>More than two out of three displaced people are not refugees, but remain within their own country.Carolien Jacobs, Assistant Professor, Leiden UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1093762019-01-08T11:43:22Z2019-01-08T11:43:22ZWhy the UK should stay within the EU’s asylum system after Brexit<p>Until recent media coverage of an increase in people crossing the English Channel by boat, Brexit debates have largely overlooked the future of asylum and international protection after the UK leaves the EU on March 29. The UK’s options are challenging – and the risks for current and future asylum seekers are real and serious, particularly if the UK were to leave without a deal.</p>
<p>Complications will stem from the UK’s involvement in the EU’s international protection and asylum governance structures, known as the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). This <a href="https://www.biicl.org/documents/1531_faq_-_brexit_and_uk_refugee_law_and_policy.pdf?showdocument=1">determines</a> who qualifies as a refugee, the minimum rights of asylum seekers waiting for the result of their application and the procedures relating to seeking asylum.
The UK has so far <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/lucy-mayblin/what-will-brexit-mean-for-asylum-in-uk">opted out</a> of the directives that regulate higher common standards for asylum procedures so it can keep only minimum standards. </p>
<p>CEAS also oversees implementation of the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/examination-of-applicants_en">Dublin regulations</a>, governing which member state should be responsible for processing an asylum claim. The current rules mean that member states can return asylum seekers to the member state where they first entered the EU. <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/identification-of-applicants_en">Eurodac</a>, an EU-wide database of fingerprints of asylum seekers, is key in determining the country of first entry of asylum seekers. </p>
<p>Although there has been opposition from member states such as Italy, Hungary, and Greece on the EU’s external borders, others, including the UK, have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/20/uk-to-lobby-european-commission-over-plans-to-scrap-dublin-resolution">supported the system</a>. This is because it has allowed them to return asylum seekers to the EU country where they first sought asylum. </p>
<p>Should the UK leave the EU without a deal, its rule-making power in CEAS would end. It will be out of the Dublin regulations, will lose the right to return asylum seekers to other EU member states and will have no access to Eurodac. This means a consequence of a no-deal Brexit might be an increase in number of irregular arrivals as the UK will be unable to return them to another EU member state. </p>
<p>Should the UK leave the EU with a Brexit deal and a transition period in place, this could protect the status quo for a short period, providing an opportunity to negotiate a new system without generating a legal vacuum. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-transition-what-will-and-wont-change-for-britons-after-march-2019-107558">Brexit transition: what will and won't change for Britons after March 2019</a>
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<h2>Options for the future</h2>
<p>There are three routes available for the UK, and none of them are without hurdles. The first is to negotiate bilateral arrangements with individual EU states, including France, in the case of a no-deal scenario. However, since asylum governance is highly harmonised in the EU, despite political differences, it’s unlikely that member states and EU institutions will agree to this.</p>
<p>Second, regardless of the deal with the EU, the UK can pursue bilateral agreements with non-EU countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Senegal, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Currently, the UK benefits from the arrangements the EU has with such countries such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/refugees-out-of-sight-out-of-mind-two-years-on-from-eu-turkey-deal-93451">EU-Turkey deal</a>. Such negotiations will not only take the UK time, but any agreements will not necessarily prevent irregular crossings from Europe. </p>
<p>In the meantime, the UK might deploy more naval ships in the Channel, although even a small operation has recently caused a <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/sajid-javid-and-jeremy-hunts-positioning-for-tory-leadership-backfires-spectacularly-11597150">disagreement within the cabinet</a> regarding its finances. However, as shown in the <a href="https://civilsocietyfutures.org/push-back-violence-frontex/">Mediterranean</a>, highly expensive military operations hardly stop boat crossings, but divert the boats to less monitored but more dangerous areas of the sea. </p>
<p>The third option would be to negotiate a version of the arrangements Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein have with the EU during a transition period. These non-EU countries are members of the Dublin system, which requires them to be part of the Schengen free movement area too. But they don’t have the right to participate in negotiations of new EU rules and must make significant financial contributions to the Schengen and Dublin system. In other words, they accept to be “rule takers” in exchange for comprehensive economic relations and an asylum system integrated with the EU so they can take part in burden-sharing arrangements.</p>
<h2>Protecting the most vulnerable</h2>
<p>Through Brexit, the UK is voluntarily withdrawing from the rule-making position it held within CEAS without replacing it. As a <a href="https://www.ein.org.uk/news/european-parliament-publishes-comprehensive-new-study-what-brexit-will-mean-asylum-and">recent study</a> published by the European Parliament warned, there is no time to formulate and agree a new asylum mechanism before the end of March 2019. The difficulty ahead for the UK is that, because of its geographical position and the fact that many asylum seekers will transit EU member states before arriving in the UK, it must engage with the EU. </p>
<p>The UK should find a way to be part of CEAS so that it isn’t considered by the EU as a third country outside the EU’s asylum governance structures. To do this, it needs to leave the EU with a deal and negotiate a version of staying within the EU’s existing asylum framework beyond any transition period. This might be the only realistic way to protect the existing rights and entitlements of asylum seekers in the UK.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109376/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ali Bilgic is Prince Claus Chair 2017-19 in ‘Migration and Human Security’ at International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. </span></em></p>Because of its geography, the UK must put an end to uncertainty over asylum policy after Brexit.Ali Bilgic, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1079082018-12-10T14:19:19Z2018-12-10T14:19:19ZHillary Clinton’s centrist remedy to stop right-wing populists apes their own anti-migration rhetoric<blockquote>
<p>Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message – ‘we are not going to be able to continue to provide refuge and support’ – because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic. </p>
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<p>These are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/22/hillary-clinton-europe-must-curb-immigration-stop-populists-trump-brexit">the words</a> of former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a series of recent interviews conducted by the Guardian newspaper with what it termed “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/22/clinton-blair-renzi-why-we-lost-populists-how-fight-back-rightwing-populism-centrist">heavyweight centrist</a>” politicians. Clinton was setting out her prescription for how to “stop right-wing populists”. </p>
<p>Her advice, according to the Guardian, focused solely on migration control. Yet this is rather contradictory, since she appears to be calling for precisely the same policy on this issue as the right-wing populists she is trying to stop. </p>
<p>The former UK Independence Party MEP, Nigel Farage, for example, used <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants">Nazi-echoing imagery</a> in his Leave.EU campaign ahead of the UK’s 2016 EU referendum. Matteo Salvini, the Italian deputy prime minister, was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/25/matteo-salvini-formally-investigated-over-migrant-ship-standoff">placed under investigation</a> in August for illegal detention and kidnapping after refusing to let a Mediterranean rescue boat carrying over 100 people dock. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has erected a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/hungary-refugees-immigration-viktor-orban-racism-border-fence-a8446046.html">four metre-high razor-wire fence</a> along Hungarian borders to keep out what he terms “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugees-muslim-invaders-hungary-viktor-orban-racism-islamophobia-eu-a8149251.html">Muslim invaders</a>”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/open-to-those-who-can-pay-the-hypocrisy-of-how-hungary-treats-asylum-seekers-75333">Open to those who can pay: the hypocrisy of how Hungary treats asylum seekers</a>
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</p>
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<p>In the UK, the “centre” has chased the right on immigration politics for many years, from the UK Labour Party’s “controls on immigration” campaign <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/28/labour-immigration-mug_n_6961756.html">souvenir mug</a>, to the Conservative Party’s effort to woo voters from UKIP by introducing ever-hardening <a href="https://mappingimmigrationcontroversy.com/2014/12/02/whos-being-ignored-when-politicians-claim-they-are-listening-to-concerns-about-immigration/">policies</a> on immigration. In chasing policies they believe to be popular, rather than principled, these mainstream parties that claim the political “centre ground” themselves fit the definition of “populist”. </p>
<h2>Tired of facts</h2>
<p>In <a href="http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=625583;keyword=go%20home">research I conducted with colleagues</a> into the effects of government anti-immigration messaging, we <a href="https://mappingimmigrationcontroversy.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/end-of-project-findings-leaflet-final.pdf">were told</a> by somebody who works in Westminster policy circles that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The public are not going to believe any immigration statistics … With
immigration you have every reason to disbelieve data, because the government has told you it’s crap at collecting it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The received wisdom among most civil servants, politicians and think tanks was you could never win the electorate round to liking migration with facts. The way to win votes, therefore, was to continue to emphasise how tough a particular politician would be in controlling migration. </p>
<p>This was to be displayed in prominent policies – from more official uniforms for border guards at ports of entry, to more formal checks in everyday life, to publicity campaigns about deportation and removals. The effectiveness of this in terms of either managing migration, or assuaging public fear of migration, was not the point. The focus was on political power. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-populism-and-why-is-it-so-hard-to-define-107457">What is populism – and why is it so hard to define?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The right to refuge</h2>
<p>In this light, Clinton’s comment is just more of the same. But her advice to the centrist politicians of Europe, that they should no longer “continue to provide refuge”, was startling. This is different to managing migration. What Clinton is suggesting here is the end of protection under the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 UN Refugee Convention</a>. This international law promises that a person with a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion will not be sent back to a country which poses serious threats to their life or freedom. </p>
<p>The Refugee Convention is ratified by 145 states. And though <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/22/un-condemns-australias-forced-return-of-asylum-seeker-to-sri-lanka">some of those signatories do flout it</a> on occasion, it is a profound statement to suggest these protections should be ended. The convention was written to protect refugees in the aftermath of World War II, a war in which, we are told, fascism was defeated. So it’s highly significant that a former US secretary of state should suggest that such an international agreement should be ended as a way of defeating present-day fascism.</p>
<h2>History lessons forgotten</h2>
<p>The problem with Clinton’s message is not only one of opportunist politics, a politics in which the appeal of gaining power for the centre is paramount, even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/23/hillary-clinton-populism-europe-immigration">at the expense of the most marginalised</a>. It is bigger than that – it is an erasure of historical memory. </p>
<p>This is at a moment when the struggle over history and its meaning is alive in many other ways too. Student mobilisations such as the “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign which began at the <a href="https://za.boell.org/2018/02/19/rhodesmustfall-it-was-never-just-about-statue">University of Cape Town</a>, South Africa, and moved to <a href="https://rmfoxford.wordpress.com/">the UK</a>, are a case in point. Students calling for statues of the imperialist Cecil Rhodes to be removed from a place of reverence <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/mary-beard-says-drive-to-remove-cecil-rhodes-statue-from-oxford-university-is-a-dangerous-attempt-to-a6783306.html">were accused</a> of wishing to “erase history”. </p>
<p>But what they were actually calling for was <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/12064939/We-dont-want-to-erase-Cecil-Rhodes-from-history.-We-want-everyone-to-know-his-crimes.html">a proper recognition of Rhodes’s history</a>, which was one of systematic, violent exploitation of the people of South Africa on a massive scale. Like many other colonial histories, Rhodes’s brutal legacy is in plain sight, and yet its roots have been forgotten by many. There are many such histories to be reckoned with. </p>
<p>Clinton’s suggestion that Europe end the provision of refuge in order to counter far-right populism asks for a similar erasure of history. Her call both forgets the context in which the UN Convention was created, and <a href="http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol3no2_2004/ahmed_declarations.htm">does the opposite of what it promises</a>. Rather than heading off far-right, anti-migrant rhetoric, it gives this rhetoric legitimacy.</p>
<p>To avoid a yet more brutal future, perhaps the question which Clinton was asked – how to stop right-wing populism – has a more complex answer. Perhaps there is a need to understand, remember, and <a href="https://www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/about-us/history-and-heritage/darkness-over-germany">learn from history</a>, rather than to rush head-first into more of the same.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Jones received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, Award no. ES/L008971/1 for the research quoted in this article. She is a member of the Labour Party, University and College Union, the British Sociological Association, and Birmingham Docs Not Cops.</span></em></p>The ‘centre’ has long been chasing the right on immigration politics.Hannah Jones, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/753952017-09-06T09:40:35Z2017-09-06T09:40:35ZIndonesia’s refugee policy – not ideal, but a step in the right direction<p>The Indonesian government needs to expand a presidential decree to protect refugees, by turning it into law. The definition the decree uses should also be broadened because it leaves out those fleeing disasters, instead referring only to those fleeing persecution. </p>
<p>In December 2016 president Joko Widodo filled a long legal vacuum by issuing a decree to ensure refugees not be arbitrarily expelled or returned to their country of origin. </p>
<p>Some <a href="http://www.insideindonesia.org/no-durable-solutions">researchers have criticised</a> the decree for not doing enough to protect refugees. For example, Indonesia still hasn’t signed the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Refugee Convention</a> which outlines the rights of refugees and the obligations of governments to protect them. </p>
<p>The decree doesn’t set out ways that asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia - some 13,800 people, mostly from Afghanistan and Myanmar - can be protected and settled in Indonesia through integration programs. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, this regulation shows a policy shift in Indonesia from a security approach that pays no regard to the safety of refugees into one that honours a customary international law obligation of <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/excom/scip/3ae68ccd10/note-non-refoulement-submitted-high-commissioner.html">non-refoulement</a>, or not expelling or returning refugees. </p>
<h2>Ignoring customary international law</h2>
<p>Even though Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, its honour bound to the principle of non-refoulement. It’s considered a customary law that binds all countries, including those who are not signatory to the refugee convention. This means other countries observe it as law, even though its unofficial.</p>
<p>Violating this customary law would bring criticism and condemnation from other nations. Even now, the international community and civil society organisations have been pressuring the Indonesian government to sign the 1951 Refuge Convention. </p>
<p>Prior to the release of the decree, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights’ Directorate General of Immigration had been relying on their own standard operating procedures. </p>
<p>This directorate is the government lead in responding to refugee issues. Without any regulation on how to treat and manage refugees and asylum seekers, officials usually ignore the requests of refugees or detain those without UNHCR refugee identification cards. The immigration agency also does not differentiate between <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/asylum-seekers.html">asylum seekers, refugees</a>, or <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/statelessness-around-the-world.html?query=stateless%20people">the stateless</a>. </p>
<p>Without a UNHCR refugee identification card refugees are labelled illegal immigrants. And in order to get a UNHCR identification card, asylum seekers and refugees must go through a very long Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process. This process is a very exhausting, <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/50001bda9.pdf">the waiting period alone for registration for a first interview ranges from 8 to 20 months</a>.</p>
<p>The lack of action in relation to refugees was most evident during the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-east-asias-migrant-boat-crisis-is-a-global-responsibility-41698">Andaman Sea Crisis</a> when thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshis were languishing at sea off Indonesia’s northernmost province Aceh in 2015. </p>
<p>The governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand initially refused to save them. Only after local fishermen saved the adrift themselves did Indonesia and Malaysia give them shelter. </p>
<p>The next year, Indonesia reportedly <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/17/indonesian-province-prepares-to-tow-stranded-migrant-boat-back-o/">towed a stranded migrant boat in Aceh back to sea</a>. In any case, immigration authorities would arrest refugees entering Indonesian territory. </p>
<p>However, the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry showed a different approach. The ministry, with its clear understanding of international treaties and laws, is more active in responding to refugees. For example, Indonesia’s foreign minister Retno Marsudi has sent humanitarian aid for the Rohingya refugees. She visited two refugee camps of Rohingyas in Ukhia of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.</p>
<h2>Shifting refugee policy</h2>
<p>President Widodo’s decree shows the progress Indonesia has made in adhering to international refugee law. Indonesia now has clear leadership on how to treat refugees. This means the differences in perception and behaviour between ministries can now be avoided. </p>
<p>Through this decree, Indonesia has codified the principle of non-refoulement into its new policy. It also makes Indonesia a pioneer among transit countries in Southeast Asia in policymaking on refugee issues. </p>
<p>Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are the primary refugee transit countries in Southeast Asia. To this date, only Indonesia has formulated a decree on refugees.</p>
<p>As Indonesia begins to enforce this refugee decree, Indonesia should also promote the values enshrined, in the region. Through diplomacy and negotiation, this may be a step to realise a refugee framework in Southeast Asian region and especially in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75395/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dio Herdiawan Tobing tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>Indonesia’s decree on refugees honours a customary international law obligation of non-refoulement, or not expelling or returning refugees.Dio Herdiawan Tobing, Research Associate at the ASEAN Studies Center, Universitas Gadjah Mada Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/684752016-11-13T19:06:20Z2016-11-13T19:06:20ZTurnbull’s asylum seeker ban violates Australia’s human rights obligations<p>The Federal Government has taken its first steps towards banning asylum seekers and refugees who attempt to reach Australia by boat from ever entering the country.</p>
<p>The Coalition introduced its <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5754">bill</a> to change the Migration Act in the House of Representatives on November 8, claiming the legislation is compatible with Australia’s international human rights obligations.</p>
<p>That claim doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. If passed, this bill will be in direct contravention of the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/1951-refugee-convention.html">Refugee Convention</a> and Australia’s other international obligations. Here are the reasons why.</p>
<p>The people who will be affected by this law are predominantly asylum seekers who came to Australia by boat and have been assessed as refugees in an offshore detention centre. There’s no dispute that these people are genuinely in need of international protection.</p>
<p>There is no visa available for people travelling to Australia to seek asylum. Nor is there an orderly international queue for recognised refugees. For most refugees, the chances of being resettled are extremely low. This makes their travel to Australia in search of protection without a visa understandable. </p>
<p>The drafters of the Refugee Convention foresaw this dilemma. This is why Article 31 exists. Article 31 prohibits states from imposing penalties on refugees who illegally enter or stay in a country if they come directly from a place where their life or freedom was threatened.</p>
<p>Even if a refugee travels through or spends time in a transit country, they’re considered as having “come directly” so long as they weren’t granted protection in that intermediate country. This is the case for most asylum seekers who come to Australia by boat. </p>
<p>Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his Coalition colleagues have been unequivocal in saying the ban is designed to operate as a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-30/manus-nauru-refugees-asylum-seekers-to-be-banned-turnbull-says/7978228">penalty for unlawful entry</a>. In doing so, the government is trying to deter asylum seekers from exercising their right to seek asylum.</p>
<p>There is no question the impact will be punitive. The bill does not provide a sunset clause or any other expiration date, so the prohibition will be permanent. The government states that the ban will apply even after an asylum seeker is settled in, or is offered citizenship of, another country. </p>
<p>If this bill comes into force, it will be in direct contravention of Article 31 of the Refugee Convention.</p>
<p>It’s worth reflecting on the fact that some of the refugees who will be affected by this bill were taken by Australia, against their will, to countries in which at least some have suffered serious human rights violations. </p>
<p>International law prohibits countries from returning asylum seekers to persecution. A country must also not transfer, deport or send an asylum seeker to a place where she or he will face torture or inhumane or degrading treatment.</p>
<p>Australia is arguably in violation of this obligation, having exposed at least some asylum seekers to precisely such treatment. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2015/s4193756.htm">made this assessment</a> in relation to Australia’s offshore detention centre on Manus Island. The allegations of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/10/the-nauru-files-2000-leaked-reports-reveal-scale-of-abuse-of-children-in-australian-offshore-detention">physical and sexual assaults</a> on Nauru suggest that some refugees may have suffered inhuman and degrading treatment there, too.</p>
<p>Australia should be seeking to remedy its breaches of international law by bringing refugees to Australia, not exacerbating them with further violations.</p>
<p><strong>Removing the right to family life</strong></p>
<p>The government acknowledges that this legislation could result in families being permanently separated. This contravenes Australia’s obligations to respect the right to family life.</p>
<p>Australia has signed treaties that prohibit arbitrary interference in a person’s family. This includes recognising that family is the “natural and fundamental” group unit in society, and should be protected. </p>
<p>Australia has also committed to ensuring the best interests of a child are a primary consideration. The government does not deny that the bill may violate all of these obligations. </p>
<p>The single justification offered by the government is that Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and his ministerial successors will be able to exercise discretion to lift the ban, where he or she thinks it “is in the public interest to do so”. The bill says nothing about the meaning of “public interest”, let alone the consideration of international human rights obligations as part of that assessment.</p>
<p>The amorphous “public interest” test is largely a discretionary one, and not amenable to judicial scrutiny. Australia won’t satisfy its international obligations with an optional, discretionary measure. Such broad discretion is also not conducive to transparent public administration.</p>
<p>The potential for ministerial benevolence is small comfort to the people this bill will affect, and who could well be permanently separated from loved ones.</p>
<p><strong>Indefinite detention</strong></p>
<p>There is no clarity about what will happen to the refugees already living in offshore detention or in Australia (for example, those receiving medical treatment in Australia) who can’t be sent to a third country because no resettlement option can be found. With no valid visa, indefinite immigration detention is a genuine possibility.</p>
<p>The United Nations has found on numerous occasions that Australia’s system of indefinite detention violates the right to freedom from arbitrary detention. The Refugee Convention makes it clear that prolonged detention is illegal under international law.</p>
<p><strong>Discrimination</strong></p>
<p>The government acknowledges that singling out a particular group for a permanent ban could violate their right to equal protection under international law and freedom from discrimination. The government seeks to defend this on the basis that the differential treatment is for “a legitimate purpose”, is based on relevant and objective criteria, and is reasonable and proportionate.</p>
<p>This is wrong. A policy that violates refugee and human rights law cannot meet these requirements. </p>
<p>In short, this bill does nothing to ease the global refugee crisis and represents a further rejection of Australia’s international obligations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Foster receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She also undertakes consultancy work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. </span></em></p>The Federal Government’s proposal to permanently ban asylum seekers and refugees who come to Australia by boat is in direct contravention of the Refugee Convention.Michelle Foster, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/476292015-11-05T11:10:27Z2015-11-05T11:10:27ZDo refugees have a ‘right’ to hospitality?<p>According to <a href="http://www.iom.int/">the latest figures</a> from the International Office of Migration, over 700,000 migrants have arrived by sea into Europe in 2015. </p>
<p>But today’s refugee crisis is not just about the movement of people. It is also about the human immobility that is embedded into the legal, political and economic systems of nation states across the world. That human immobility is now coming under extreme pressure. </p>
<p>Just how this institutional immobility is affecting migrants and their would-be host countries is the subject that I, as a scholar of human trafficking, want to explore in this article. </p>
<p>But, first, poetry – inspired by the children’s verse Brown Bear, Brown Bear – to crystallize thought and shift perspectives. </p>
<h2>What do we see?</h2>
<pre class="highlight plaintext"><code> People, people, what do we see
We see a toddler’s body washed by the sea
We see barbed wire stopping those that flee
We see bodies, dirty clothes, desperation and fear
We see the old and the young, crying, fleeing, dying
People, people, what do we see?
We see invasion, humanity, opportunism, chaos
We see profit, indifference, hatred, fear, welcome
We see meals, and diapers, and smugglers, and wi-fi
We see inhumanity, traffickers, the future, the past
Death giving and life dealing, and money-making too
People, people, what do we see?
We see divisions, breakings apart, failure and pain
We see compassion, and hate, and confusion, and welcome
We see humanity looking at us
</code></pre>
<h2>Dueling perceptions</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/photography/2015/09/migrant_crisis_devastating_photos_of_refugees_in_europe.html">Images of desperate humanity</a> in inexorable motion flow across the world’s televisions, newspapers and news feeds. </p>
<p>The movement from Syria is not singular: Africans, crowded into <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/28/let-migrants-drown-mediterranean-lost-sense-of-common-humanity">unseaworthy boats</a>, have been coming from northern Africa toward Europe <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24521614">for years</a>. </p>
<p>In 2014, in the United States, state and federal governments, as well as the public, panicked as the number of women-headed family groups and <a href="http://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/us-immigration-policy-program/rising-child-migration-united-states">unaccompanied children</a> crossing the US/Mexico border increased. </p>
<p>Afghans, Iraqis, Rohingya (Muslims from Myamar) and others are <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/child-in-detention-for-1113-days-only-25-rohingya-refugees-accepted-20150724-gijm19.html">detained or turned back</a> as they attempt sea crossings from Asia to Australia.</p>
<p>Mass human movements give rise to inherently conflicting reactions: instincts of compassion and welcome for desperate fellow human beings clash with impulses of exclusion and the desire to protect individual economies, cultures, and nations from outsiders. </p>
<p>Nation-states and their inhabitants struggle, then, with a dual perception: are these migrants to be seen as human beings fleeing danger and seeking haven from natural or manmade disasters? Or are they “others” who seek access to and a share of the resources accumulated and guarded within national borders?</p>
<h2>Refugees under international law</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/4ec262df9.html">UN Refugee Convention</a>, the majority of the world’s states have agreed to give asylum to people who are deemed to be “refugees.” </p>
<p>Most, if not all, of the European Union member states are <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/3b73b0d63.html">signatories and accessories</a> to this convention. </p>
<p>Indeed, it was Europe’s refugee crises after World Wars I and II that inspired the convention. However, the provisions of the UN Refugee Convention appear to be inadequate to guide state behavior in the present crisis. The term “refugee” is narrowly defined, and as a result, some individuals seeking asylum are kept out. Different countries define refugee status – and the consequences of refusing to grant it – differently. </p>
<p>Political considerations – notably disagreements about how responsibility for the refugees should be allocated among European Union member states – also are <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24583286;%20http:/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/president-erdogan-shames-eu-with-turkish-stance-on-syrian-refugee-crisis-a6680846.html">obstacles to providing haven</a> to individuals. </p>
<p>In fact, the sheer logistical challenge of the mass transfer of population appears to have overwhelmed the European system and psyche.</p>
<h2>Borders and human (im)mobility</h2>
<p>My scholarship on <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1224422">human mobility and exploitation</a> leads me to conclude that the desperation and suffering of the migrant-refugees stem not only from the disasters from which they flee, but also from the vulnerability created by the militarization and enforcement of borders and the necessity of transacting with organized human smugglers. </p>
<p>Well before the current refugee crisis, British activist and researcher Theresa Hayter <a href="https://leedsnoborders.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/open-borders-the-case-against-immigration-controls-teresa-hayter.pdf">critiqued</a> the inhospitable and hypocritical reactions of states to the foreigners who seek refugee in Europe. </p>
<p>Hayter asserts that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the suffering imposed on asylum seekers and other migrants is not some random or unintended consequence of immigration controls. It is deliberate government policy. Governments believe in deterrence, or the potential for reducing the number of people applying for asylum by making conditions harsh.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the same time, however, states continue to employ the rhetoric of haven and of international obligations to refugees. </p>
<p><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2477216">In my own work</a>, I explore the impact of state border enforcement on vulnerable human beings.</p>
<p>It does not matter how dire the circumstances are from which individuals are fleeing; their access to safety and a more secure future is dependent on a state actor making an exception to default systems of exclusion and allowing them to be mobile instead of immobile. </p>
<p>Despite contemporary <a href="https://www.globalpolicy.org/globalization.html">economic, political</a>, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/27/net-us-socialmedia-online-poll-idUSBRE82Q0C420120327">social and cultural interconnectedness</a>, the starting point of contemporary understanding is that borders are fixed (or fixable) and should be defended. </p>
<p>The assumption is that human beings either belong or do not belong to political units or nation-states that have determinable geographic and political boundaries.</p>
<p>It is also assumed that it is these nation-states that should regulate the movements, the rights and the future of the individual. </p>
<p>In other words, the millennia-old human practice of mobility – the exit from places of famine, natural catastrophe and warfare, and entry to places of safety, adventure and new opportunities – is now constrained by borders and their enforcement.</p>
<p>Contrast this immobility to the contemporary trade liberalization project, embodied by the World Trade Organization and the European Union, whose objective is the removal of barriers to the movement of goods, capital and services. </p>
<p>In my work, I have offered a solution to this inherent conflict. The <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1224422">solution I propose</a> incorporates human mobility into the multilateral trade liberalization project through the adoption of a General Agreement on Trade in Labor (GATL).</p>
<p>Through GATL, the lowering of barriers to the movement of labor or people would parallel and be synchronized with the ongoing agreements to lower barriers to the movement of goods, services and capital. </p>
<p>Why should humanity, in theory the ultimate beneficiary of trade liberalization, be coerced into immobility?</p>
<h2>A universal ‘right’ to hospitality</h2>
<p>We need a more robust vision of a common humanity:
one in which <a href="http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v11n1/hospitality.html">ancient customs of hospitality</a> are not subjugated to the protection of states’ sovereignty. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/">According</a> to ancient custom, the stranger who came in peace was entitled to the hospitality of the host. In the ancient world, the practice of hospitality meant graciously receiving an alienated person into one’s land, home or community and providing directly for that person’s needs. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100564/original/image-20151102-16547-18mrh01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100564/original/image-20151102-16547-18mrh01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1047&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100564/original/image-20151102-16547-18mrh01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1047&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100564/original/image-20151102-16547-18mrh01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1047&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100564/original/image-20151102-16547-18mrh01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1315&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100564/original/image-20151102-16547-18mrh01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100564/original/image-20151102-16547-18mrh01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1315&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Immanuel Kant 1724-1804.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/fi/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/political-theory/rights-others-aliens-residents-and-citizens">The Rights of Others</a>, Yale University political theorist Seyla Benhabib examines the contemporary applicability of German philosopher <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/kantmeta/">Immanuel Kant</a>’s “cosmopolitan right,” a right that appears to spring from ancient codes of hospitality and humanity’s coexistence on a finite earthly sphere. </p>
<p>Kant’s cosmopolitan right concerns relations between persons and foreign states. </p>
<p>As Benhabib writes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>hospitality is a “right” which belongs to all human beings insofar as we view them as potential participants in a world republic.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Furthermore, she argues, this right, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>cannot be refused, if such refusal would involve the destruction - Kant’s word here is Untergang - of the other.<br>
However, [Kant] distinguishes between a temporary sojourn – to which the stranger has a right, if s/he is peaceful – and a permanent stay, which would be enabled through different arrangements than those of the temporary sojourner.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The basis of the right of hospitality and consequent right to sojourn) was “common possession (or habitation) of the surface of the earth.” </p>
<p>Benhabib’s analysis of the contradiction between state sovereignty and border control on the one hand and human rights on the other leads her to the conclusion that the solution is what she calls “democratic iterations.”</p>
<p>These, Benhabib explains, are </p>
<blockquote>
<p>complex processes of public argument, deliberation, and learning through which universalist rights claims are contested and contextualized, invoked and revoked, throughout legal and political institutions as well as in the public sphere of liberal democracies. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, through an ongoing process of formal and informal interactions within and between individual communities and governments, universal and enforceable concepts of common humanity will emerge. </p>
<p>To more effectively and humanely respond to today’s “crisis,” we need to understand and implement in political discourse – as we have in economic discourse – the interconnectedness and oneness of humanity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47629/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Bravo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Today’s refugee crisis is not just about the movement of people. It is also about the human immobility that is baked into contemporary laws and politics. What, then, of the code of hospitality?Karen Bravo, Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and International Affairs, Robert H. McKinney School of Law, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.