Download - International Relations: Introduction
REFUGEE CONCEPT
FRANK ASSEKO
Introduction:
Who is a refugee? (common attributes
Trace the origin of International refugee protection in modern states?
Who is a refugee- law? (Geneva Convention)
Implication and Weaknesses of the Geneva Convention?
Other response to refugee problem (OAU and Cartagena Convention?
Common Definition (Attributes) A person who has been obliged to
abandon his or her usual place of residence- Media Journalist
Constitute people who have been forced from their homes as a result of war, political oppression
People displaced across borders- UNHCR
Common Definition (Attributes) ‘Boats people’- Canary Island
People who live in sprawling camps and are dependent on international relief organizations for their basic needs
Origin of Int’l Refugees Protection
Human history- displacement has existed since the beginning of organized settlement
Ancient civilization Human migration in Africa- led to permanent settlement
Historians- refugee is a problem is a modern concept- 21st century
Cont’d Refugeehood is associated to
Westphalia Treaty of 1648 & romantic nationalism in Europe (Factors)
Recognition of sovereignty State responsibility- individual protection & territory Country of nationality- people crossing border required to show identification
WhenRefugee is anyone fleeing a problem usually not of their own making, heading towards another country or a place within the country of their origin
1680-religious problems- HuguenotsLaw that outlawed Protestantism in France- US, Switzerland, SA, Germany & Prussia
People fleeing Russian industrial revolution & political revolution (1917) 1881-1920- Eastern Europe
Emigration of Jews
1920- Unrestricted migration no need categorize (protect)
Early Promise of Inte’l Refugee Protection
End of WWI measures begun to be put in place to regulate and resolve refugee problems
Why?– States allowed unrestricted migration- states did
not see each other as threats- Britain, Germany competition for balance of power, industrial revolution & transatlantic trade, colonialism
– magnitude of displaced people- 9.5 millionDefine and give reasons for being a
refugee
Cont’d…. First World – 1914-1918:
Breakdown of Ottoman & Austro-Hungarian Empire Russian revolution (1917) & creation of Soviet Union Russia- fleeing civil conflict, persecution & totalitarian regime & emerging ideology of Soviet U.
League of Nations- (Res. 26 Feb 1921)- HCR ( Nansen Fridtjof)- travel documents- Nansen Passport- travel to safe places
Cont’d Who were refugees?
Russian origin (territorial root) who did not enjoy or no longer enjoys protection of national govt of USSR & who has not acquire any other nationalityArmenian origin formerly subject of Ottoman empire ……….. Of Turkish Republic ………
1928- civil wars, & ethnic tensionsTurkish, Assyrian & Assyro-Chaldeans
Definition of refugee was territorially based
Characteristics of definition- ethnic not territory
No specific reason for fleeing
Cont’d…… 1930:
Convention relating to Int’l status of Refugees- Oct, 1933
1938: possessing or having possessed German nationality & not possessing any other nationality who are proved not to enjoy (in law or fact) protection of German govtStateless persons not covered by previous convention who have left GermanyExempted people who left Germany for personal convenience
Cont’d….. End of WWII
UN-develop a definition & means of handling refugee crises IRO- displaced persons
person who has been deported from or has been obliged to leave his country of nationality or a former habitual residence as a result of Nazi or fascist regimes of similar regimes which assisted them against the UN eg people compelled to undertake forced labor or who were deported for religious, racial or political reasons
victims of Falangist regimes- Spain Unaccompanied children, war orphans outside their country of orgin
Present Definition 1951 Geneva Convention 1967 Protocol Universal Declaration on Human
Rights- 1948 Humanitarian Law
1951 Geneva Convention- Definition
Refers to a person who– as a result of events occurring before 1
Jan, 1951 and owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality or who not having a nationality & being outside the country of his habitual residence as a result of events occurring in Europe and else where is unable or owing to such fear is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country’
1967 Protocol- Definition Refers to a person who
– ‘owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or owing to such fear is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country’
Legal Definition
Well-founded- necessity Asylum need no proof of prior persecutions for refugee status (support claim)
Persecution- torture, illegal deprivation, of freedom or extrajudicial execution
Canada- psychological trauma (determination)- loss of children
Somalia (B. (P.V) (Re), C.R.D.D. No.12 (QL)- lost protection of her child & hence will be further unable to protect her daughter from being subjected to FGM
Legal Definition
Economic measures Exclusion from labor market & possibility to gain an income Proof that subsistence or existenzminimum is threatened Yesidis in German not Syro-orthodox Christians- gain Istanbul
Weaknesses of the Convention
Definition is ambiguous- interpretation and application
Convention refugees Embraces only person at risk of Eurocentric forms of harm Person is a refugee only if genuinely at risk of persecution
Weaknesses:
Regarding- ground for protection Tortured because you’re black person Vs. discriminative punishment by a brutal dictator = Consequence the same- respect of basic human rights 1991- English court of queen’s bench- refused to grant protection Togo Muslim (Alassini) -argued if he return to his country likely to be an object of human sacrifice- common among other beliefs systems who believe in human sacrifices
Weaknesses:
Fails to recognize the claims of persons whose predicaments do not resemble those of post-WWII
More attention to failed states Fails to capture- more active forms of persecutionIgnores the needs of involuntary migrants who can’t link their fears to the five groundsCriterion alienates- IDP’s ethical
Weaknesses of the Convention
USA until 1980 considered refugees to be people escaping communism – Refugee who were a product of
colonialism not refugees
Convention indirectly targeted Soviet Union and its communist allies
Vagueness of the reasons- 5
Weaknesses:Persons displaced externally for reasons
other than individualized persecution- Armed conflict
Omission of people who have not crossed International border
African states Response to 1951 Convention
African states became party to the Convention though the Convention failed to legally encompass refugees in Africa
– African states were not therefore not
under legal obligation to accord any standards of treatment of refugees in Africa
African states Response to 1951 Convention
– The Convention also did not reflect the refugee situation in Africa
– There was thus a need to come up with a legal instrument to reflect Africa reality
African Response to 1951 Convention
The of a Convention was also prompted by increase in refugees resulting from national liberation and decolonization wars– Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Sao
Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau
– The flow of refugees to other countries because a source of friction- Rwanda and Burundi
Council of African Response to 1951 Convention Ministers recommended African Refugee Convention- meeting in Addis Ababa
– To avoid impairing UNHCR- the temporariness of UN Convention was removed
– Sep 1969 OAU Convention was adopted and came into force 20th June 1974- hence World Refugee Day
OAU 1969 Refugee Convention- Definition
States that Refugee:– ‘Shall apply to every person who owing
to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or whole of his country of origin or nationality is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality’
Cartagena Declaration- Definition
Cartagena Declaration (South and Central America)– Places less emphasis on a fear of
persecution and more on objective conditions of violence and disorder in the country of origin
Categories of “Refugees”Identify Categories
categories of Refugees Stateless persons-
– Persons who are not considered nationals of any state under operational law
– Victims of territorial alignment – residents of Uganda expelled by Idi Amin,
– Resident had neither Uganda or British passports
Convention Refugees (Official):Have protection rights to seek asylum and
guarantee that they will not be repatriated Once granted asylum permanently they
enjoy certain social and economic rights
Categories of RefugeesDe facto refugees-
Excluded from being ad jure refugees rejected by host country on basis of Convention
Normally victims of armed conflicts, erroneous economic policy and natural disasters
Not protected from non-refoulement
Internally Displaced Persons:People uprooted from their homes
without crossing national frontiers
Categories of RefugeesDenied refugee status protection on the
requirement that an applicant be outside their country of his nationality
Products of revolutions and counter revolutions – guerrilla and government forces
Economic immigrants:Leave country because of poverty and
financial hardship/ seek better life
Do not fit in the definition of refugees
Categories of RefugeesUrban refugees:
Highly educated and qualified persons with valuable talent and skills
Refugees with an urban, non-agricultural and usually educated background who take up residence in the city to live familiar environment
Refugees of a rural agricultural and uneducated background who initially take up residence in a camp but move to the city
Individual and small groups of asylum seekers who arrive independently in the capital cities of low income countries
Categories of RefugeesCriminals:
People who flee from justice and persons who violate the law n their own country and flee from persecution
Do not get refugees status
Environmental Refugees:People who no longer gain a secure
livelihood in their habitat due to drought, famine, desertification, and other environmental problems resulting from pressures of population, and poverty
Conclusion & Discussion
What definition can be said to be ‘ethical’ and inclusive?
Discussion
What definition can be said to be ‘ethical’?
policy makers- approach to protect Definition allow continued dialogue for change of justification in which states can’t avoid accountability for their protection decisionsRefugee law- protect people unable to access national protection but if one can received adequate protection of human dignity
Discussion
What definition can be said to be ‘ethical’?
Conclusion: Agree with Shacknove- it is the absence of state protection which constitutes the full & complete negtaion of society & basis of refugeehoodSupreme court of Canada (1993)-Refugee law back up to the protection one expects from his own state of which he is a national