It has been argued that, recognising a person as a ‘convention refugee’ is, fundamentally, a political statement. Do you agree? Analyse with reference to treaties, case law, and academic literature.

International Refugee Law
Essay title:
Title:

It has been argued that, recognising a person as a ‘convention refugee’ is, fundamentally, a political statement. Do you agree? Analyse with reference to treaties, case law, and academic literature.

some beneficial sources:
Introduction: A Global Refugee Protection Framework
Treaties/Legislation

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (especially preamble)
Charter of the United Nations, San Francisco, 26 June 1945 (especially Articles 1, 2)
Declaration on Territorial Asylum

Final Act of the UN Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons (25 July 1951)
GA Res. 8(I) of 12 February 1946 (Question of Refugees)
GA Res. 62(I) of 15 December 1946 (Refugees and Displaced Persons)
GA Res. 428 (V) of 14 December 1950 (Statute of the UNHCR)
Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Paris, 10 December 1948, Article 14
Literature
Guy S. Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam, The Refugee in International Law (3rd edn OUP 2007) Chapter 1*
Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, ‘A Convention and a Purpose’ (2001) 13 International Journal of Refugee Law 1-15*
Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, The Dynamic of International Refugee Law (2013) 25(4) International Journal of Refugee Law 651-666
Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, The Politics of Refugee Protection (2008) 27(1) Refugee Survey Quarterly 8-23
James Hathaway, The Evolution of Refugee Status in International Law: 1920-1950 (1984) 33(2) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 348-80
Walter Kalin, ‘Supervising the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees: Article 35 and Beyond’ in Erika Feller, Volker Turk and Frances Nicholson (eds), Refugee Protection in International Law (CUP 2003) 613-666
Jane McAdam, Rethinking the Origin of ‘Persecution’ in Refugee Law (2013) 25(4) International Journal of Refugee Law 667-692
Nehemia Robinson, Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees: Its History, Contents and Interpretation (Institute of Jewish Affairs, 1955)
Summary Conclusions, Roundtable on the Future of Refugee Convention Supervision (Cambridge, UK, 28-29 September 2012)
Volker Türk and Frances Nicholson, ‘Refugee protection in international law: an overall Perspective’ in Erika Feller, Volker Türk and Frances Nicholson (eds), Refugee Protection in International Law (Cambridge University FFPress, 2003) 3-45*
Paul Weis, ‘The International Protection of Refugees’ (1954) 48 American Journal of International Law 193-221

the 1951 Convention Refugee Definition and Refugee Status Determination

Treaties/Legislation
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 1A(2)*
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Articles 26, 31*
Cases
R v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex parte Adan [UK] (19 December 2000)*
Canada (Attorney General) v. Ward [Canada] (30 June 1993)*
Horvath v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [UK] (6 July 2000)
HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v. SSHD [2010] UKSC 31 [UK]*
Islam v. SSHD; R v. Immigration Appeal Tribunal, Ex Parte Shah [UK] (25 March 1999)
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v. Khawar [Australia] (11 April 2002)
RT (Zimbabwe) and others v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [UK] (25 July 2012)
Literature
T Alexander Aleinikoff, ‘Protected characteristics and social perceptions: an analysis of the meaning of “membership of a particular social group”’ in Erika Feller, Volker Türk and Frances Nicholson (eds), Refugee Protection in International Law (CUP, 2003) 263-311
Deborah E. Anker, ‘Refugee Law, Gender, and the Human Rights Paradigm’ (2002) 15 Harvard Human Rights Journal 133
Guy S Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam, The Refugee in International Law (3rd edn Oxford University Press, 2007) Chapters 2-4*
James C. Hathaway and William S. Hicks, ‘Is There a Subjective Element in the Refugee Convention’s Requirement of Well-Founded Fear?’ (2005) 26 Michigan Journal of International Law 510*
James C. Hathaway and Hugo Storey, ‘What is the meaning of state protection? A debate’ (2016) 28(3) International Journal of Refugee Law 480-492*
Daniel J. Steinbock, ‘Interpreting the Refugee Definition’ (1998) 45 UCLA Law Review 733
UNHCR, Guidelines on International Protection No. 1: Gender-Related Persecution Within the Context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, (May 2002)
UNHCR, Guidelines on International Protection No. 9: Claims to Refugee Status based on Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity within the Context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the status of Refugees (October 2012)*
UNHCR, Handbook and Guidelines on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (December 2011)
Film: well-founded fear (part 1 (45 mins) part 2 (45 mins) part 3 (25 mins)

Cessation of (1951 Convention) Refugee Status, the Refugee Predicament and Refugee Rights
Treaties/Legislation
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees Articles 1C, 2-32, 34*
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 2(1)*
Cases
C-175/08 and others Salahadin Abdulla and Others v. Bundesrepublik Deutschland [CJEU] (2 March 2010)*
R (ST (Eritrea)) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [Supreme Court, United Kingdom] (21 March 2012)
Literature
Joan Fitzpatrick & Rafael Bonoan, ‘Cessation of Refugee Protection’ in Erika Feller, Volker Türk and Frances Nicholson (eds), Refugee Protection in International Law (CUP 2003) 491-544
Vincent Chetail, ‘Are Refugee Rights Human Rights? An Unorthodox Questioning of the Relations between Refugee Law and Human Rights Law’ in Ruth Rubio-Marín (ed), Human Rights and Immigration (OUP, 2014) chapter 2*
Antonio Fortin, ‘The Meaning of Protection in the Refugee Definition’ (2001) 12 International Journal of Refugee Law 548–76
Guy S Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam, The Refugee in International Law (3rd edn OUP 2007) 285-324, 489-499*
James Hathaway, The Rights of Refugees under International Law (CUP 2005) 154-191, 913-990
Marina Sharpe, The 1951 Refugee Convention’s Contingent Rights Framework and Article 26 of the ICCPR: A Fundamental Incompatibility? (2014) 30(2) Refuge 5-13*
Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler, ‘Protecting Recognised Geneva Convention Refugees outside their Countries of Asylum’ 25(2) International Journal of Refugee Law 235-264*
Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler, ‘Out-of-Country Voting: The Predicament of the Recognised Refugee’ in Jean-Pierre Gauci, Mariagiulia Giuffré, and Lilian Tsourdi (eds), Forced Migration(s): Critical Reflections on Refugee Law (Brill, 2015) 296-318*
Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler, ‘Voting rights of Recognised Geneva Convention Refugees in their Countries of Asylum’ in Voting Rights of Refugees (CUP, forthcoming February 2017)
UNHCR, Guidelines on International Protection: Cessation of Refugee Status under Article 1C(5) and (6) of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (10 February 2003)*

the 1951 Refugee Convention Definition: Exclusion

Treaties/Legislation
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 1F*
Cases
Al-Sirri v Secretary of State for the Home Department and DD (Afghanistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] UKSC 54 [UK] (21 November 2012)*
Ezokola v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) 2013 S.C.C. 40 [Canada] (19 July 2013)
Suresh v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) [2002] 1 S.C.R. 3 [Canada] (11 January 2012)*
Literature
European Council on Refugees and Exiles 2004, Position on Exclusion from Refugee Status (March 2004)
Geoff Gilbert, ‘Current issues in the application of the exclusion clauses’ in Erika Feller, Volker Türk and Frances Nicholson (eds), Refugee Protection in International Law (CUP, 2003) 425-478
Guy S. Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam, The Refugee in International Law (3rd edn OUP 2007) 421–446
Colin Harvey, ‘Exclusion from Refugee Status and the Interpretation of ‘Political Crimes’’ (1996) 47 Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 314-321.
James Simeon, Exclusion under Article 1F(a) of the 1951 Convention (2009) 21(2) IJRL 193
Sarah Singer, Terrorism and Article 1F(c) of the Refugee Convention (2014) 12(5) JICJ 1075
Joris Van Wick, ‘Alleged Terrorists and Other Perpetrators of Serious Non-Political Crimes: The Application of Article 1F(b) of the Refugee Convention in the Netherlands’ (2016) 29(1) Journal of Refugee Studies 19-38
UHNCR, Statement on Article 1F of the 1951 Convention (July 2009)*

article 1d and the Role of UNRWA
Treaties/Legislation
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Articles 1D*
UNGA, Resolution No 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 (‘Assistance to Palestine Refugees’)*
Cases
C-31/09 Bolbol v. Bevándorlási és Állampolgársági Hivatal [CJEU] (17 June 2010)*
C-364/11 Abed El Karem El Kott and Others [CJEU] (19 December 2012)*
Literature
Ilana Feldman, ‘The Challenge of Categories: UNRWA and the definition of a ‘Palestine Refugee’’ (2012) 25(3) JRS 387-406
Michael Kagan, ‘The (Relative) Decline of Palestinian Exceptionalism and its Consequences for Refugee Studies in the Middle East’ (2009) 22(4) Journal of Refugee Studies 417-438*
UNHCR, Guidelines on International Protection No 13 (December 2017)*
UNRWA, no going back? (2010) (available at: https://vimeo.com/83546692)

Non-Refoulement and Interdiction at Sea

Treaties/Legislation
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 33(1-2)*
European Convention on Human Rights, Article 3
Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on Common Procedures for Granting and Withdrawing International Protection (Recast) Art 3, 38*
EU-Turkey Statement (18 March 2016)*
Cases
Haitian Centre for Human Rights et al. v. United States [IIACommHR] (13 Mar 1997) [155-8]
Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy [ECtHR] (23 February 2012) [22-23] and concurring opinion (Pinto de Alberquerque J) + UNHCR, Submission
HCJ 7302/07 Hotline for Migrant Workers v. Minister of Defense [Israel] (7 July 2011)
N.D. & N.T. v Spain [ECtHR] (18 February 2020) [193-232]
MSS v. Belgium and Greece [ECtHR] (21 January 2011) [286]
R v. Immigration Officer at Prague Airport and Another, Ex parte European Roma Rights Centre and Others [UK] (9 December 2004) [43], [65-71]
Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, Inc., et al [U.S.] (21 June 1993) opinion section on Article 33 (unnumbered paragraphs) and dissent (Blackmun J) in full
Literature

Alice Edwards, ‘Human Rights, Refugees and the Right to ‘Enjoy’ Asylum’ (2005) 17(2) International Journal of Refugee Law 293-330*
Michelle Foster, Protection Elsewhere: The Legal Implications of Requiring Refugees to Seek Protection in Another State (2007) 28(2) Michigan Journal of International Law 223-286
Guy S Goodwin-Gill, ‘Non-Refoulement and the New Asylum Seekers’ (1985-1986) 26 Virginia Journal of International Law 897-918
Guy S. Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam, The Refugee in International Law (3rd edn OUP 2007) 232-266
Guy S Goodwin-Gill, ‘The Right to Seek Asylum: Interception at Sea and the Principle of Non-refoulement’ (2011) 23(3) International Journal of Refugee Law 443-457*
Jane McAdam, Australia and Asylum Seekers (2013) 25(3) IJRL 435-448
Violeta Moreno-Lax, ‘Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy or the Strasbourg Court versus Extraterritorial Migration Control?’ 12(3) Human Rights Law Review 574-598*

Cynthia Orchard and Andrew Miller, Protection in Europe for Refugees from Syria (Forced Migration Policy Briefing 10, RSC, 2014)
Yale Law School Symposium on the Sale judgment (the hyperlink will take you to a contribution by Harold Koh; please note that there are 12 other contributions, all hyperlinked at the bottom of the page.*

Regional regimes: Complementary and Subsidiary Protection

Treaties/Legislation

Bangkok Principle on the Status and Treatment of Refugees, Article 1
European Convention on Human Rights, Article 3
United Nations Convention against Torture, Article 3
Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, Conclusion 3*
Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa Article 1*
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on Standards for the Qualification of Third Country Nationals or Stateless Persons as Beneficiaries of International Protection, for a Uniform Status for Refugees or for Persons eligible for Subsidiary Protection, and for the Content of the Protection Granted (Recast)* Arts 2(e), 15
Cases
Chahal v. UK [ECtHR] (15 November 1996)
NA v. UK [ECtHR] (6 August 2008)
Saadi v. Italy [ECtHR] (28 February 2008)
Soering v. UK [ECtHR] (7 July 1989)
Tapia Paez v. Sweden [Committee against Torture] (28 April 1997)
Literature
David J. Cantor and Stefania E. Barichello, ‘The Inter-American Human Rights System: A New Model for Integrating Refugee and Complementary Protection?’ (2013) 17 (5-6) International Journal of Human Rights 689-706*
Hélène Lambert, ‘The European Convention on Human Rights and the Protection of Refugees: Limits and Opportunities’ (2005) 24 (2) Refugee Survey Quarterly 39-55
Generally Jane McAdam, Complementary Protection in International Law (OUP 2007)
Ruma Mandal, Protection Mechanisms outside of the 1951 Convention (UNHCR June 2005)*
Jane Mcdam, ‘The European Union Qualification Directive: The Creation of a Subsidiary Protection Regime’ (2005) 17(3) International Journal of Refugee Law 461-516*

Steve Peers, The Revised Directive on Refugee and Subsidiary Protection Status (July 2011)
UNHCR, Persons Covered by the OAU Convention (April 1992)

Displacement from Conflict

Treaties/Legislation
Geneva Convention IV Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Geneva, 12 August 1949, Articles 1,3, 45, 49, 146-148
UNHCR, Guidelines on International Protection No. 12 (December 2016): Claims for refugee status related to situations of armed conflict and violence*
UNHCR, Handbook and Guidelines on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (December 2011) [164-165]*
Cases
Prosecutor v. Tadić, Decision on the Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, Appeals Chamber (2 October 1995) [70]*
Sufi and Elmi v. UK (Fourth Section Chamber, ECtHR) (28 June 2011) [212-226]
C-285/12 Diakité v Commissaire général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides (Fourth Chamber, CJEU) (30 January 2014) [17-35]
Literature
Vincent Chetail, ‘Armed Conflict and Forced Migration: A Systemic Approach to International Humanitarian Law, Refugee Law and Human Rights Law’ in Andrew Clapham & Paola Gaeta (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Armed Conflict (OUP 2014) 700-734
David J. Cantor, The Laws of War and the Protection of “War Refugees” (2014) 12 Journal of International Criminal Justice 931-951*
Jean-François Durieux, Of War, Flows, Laws and Flaws: A Reply to Hugo Storey (2012) 31(3) Refugee Survey Quarterly 161-176*
Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, ‘Non-refoulement, Temporary Refuge, and the ‘New’ Asylum Seekers’ in David J. Cantor and Jean-François Durieux (eds), Refuge from Inhumanity? War Refugees and International Humanitarian Law (Brill, 2014)
Vanessa Holzer, Refugees from Armed Conflict (Intersentia, 2015) ch 3
Melanie Jacques, Armed Conflict and Displacement (CUP, 2015) ch 5
Stephane Jacquemet, ‘The Cross-fertilization of International Humanitarian Law and International Refugee Law’ (2001) 83 (843) International Review of the Red Cross 651-674*
Satvinder S. Juss, Problematizing the Protection of ‘War Refugees’: A Rejoinder to Hugo Storey and Jean-François Durieux (2013) 32(1) Refugee Survey Quarterly 122-147*
Hugo Storey, Armed Conflict in Asylum Law: The War Flaw (2012) 31(2) Refugee Survey Quarterly 1-32*

Asylum-Seekers in Israel: A case-study
Treaties/Legislation

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Articles 26, 31*
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Articles 9, 12
Law for the Prevention of Infiltration (offences and judging) 1954 (translation*)
Law for the Prevention of Infiltration (offences and judging) (amend. no 3) 2012 (translation*)
Law for the Prevention of Infiltration (offences and judging) (amend. no 4) 2013 (translation*)
Law for the Prevention of Infiltration and for Ensuring the Departure of Infiltrators from Israel (legislative and temporary provisions) 2014 (translation)

EU Council Directive on Minimum Standards for the Reception of Asylum Seekers
Procedure for Handling Political Asylum Seekers in Israel (2011)
Cases

M70/2011 v. Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2011] HCA 32 (AUS)(31 August 2011)
HCJ 7146/12 Adam et al v. Knesset et al [Israel] (16 Sept 2013) (summary) (case analysis*)
HCJ 8425/13 Gebreselassie v. GoI et al [Israel] (22 Sept 2014) (summary) (case analysis*)
HCJ 8665/14 Desete v. Minister of the Interior [Israel] (9 Aug 2015) (summary)(case analysis*)
Literature
Yonatan (Jonathan) Berman and Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler, ‘The Union of Securitization and Demography’ in Amy Nethery and Stephanie J. Silverman (eds), Immigration Detention: The Global Journey of a Policy and its Human Impact (Routledge, 2015) 154-162; and Introduction

Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, ‘Article 31: Non-penalization, Detention, and Protection’ in Erika Feller, Volker Türk,  Frances Nicholson (eds), Refugee Protection in International Law: UNHCR’s Global Consultations on International Protection (CUP 2003) 185-252*
HRC, General Comment No.27: Freedom of Movement (Article 12) (2 November 1999)
HRC, General Comment No.35: Liberty and Security of person (Article 9) (28 October 2014)
Michael Kagan, Limiting Deterrence: Judicial Resistance to Detention of Asylum-Seekers in Israel and the United States (2015) 51 Texas International Law Journal

Gregor Noll, ‘Article 31: Refugees unlawfully in the Country of Refuge’ in Andreas Zimmermann et al (eds), The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol: A Commentary (OUP 2011) 1242-1275*
UNHCR, Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards Relating to the Detention of Asylum Seekers and Alternatives to Detention (21 September 2012)

Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler, ‘No Asylum for “Infiltrators”: The Predicament of Eritreans and Sudanese Nationals in Israel’ (2015) 29(2) Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law 172-191*

The Reach (and Limits) of the Global Refugee Regime: Protection Paradigms, Contemporary challenges
international instruments
Final Act of the UN Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons (25 July 1951)*
Literature

Joseph H. Carens, ‘Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders’ (1987) 49(2) The Review of Politics 251-273
Francois Crepeau, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on Global Migration Governance (August 2013)
Jean-François Durieux, ‘Three Asylum Paradigms’ (2013) 20(2) International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 147-177*
Jean-François Durieux, ‘The Duty to Rescue Refugees’ (2016) 28(4) International Journal of Refugee Law 637-655
Matthew Gibney, The Ethics and Politics of Asylum: Liberal Democracy and the Response to Refugees (CUP, 2004) Chapters 1,7,8*
James Hathaway, ‘Why Refugee Law Still Matters’ (2007) 8 Melbourne Journal of International Law 89-103*
Arthur E. Helton, ‘What is Forced Migration’ (1999) 13 Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 521
Agnes Hurwitz, The Collective Responsibility of States to Protect Refugees (OUP, 2009) chapters 2, 3 and 4

Jane McAdam, ‘Swimming against the Tide: Why a climate change displacement treaty is not the answer’ (2011) 23 International Journal of Refugee Law 2-27

David Miller, ‘Border Regimes and Human Rights’ (2013) 7(1) Law and Ethics of Human Rights 1-23
The Nansen Initiative, Cross-Border Displacement in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change: A Protection Agenda (2015)*

Andrew Shacknove, ‘Who is a Refugee?’ (1985) 95 Ethics 274-284*
Summary Conclusions, Roundtable on the Future of Refugee Convention Supervision (Cambridge, UK, 28-29 September 2012)

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