Feb3
Executive (Dis)order and Refugees—The Trump Policy’s Blindness to International Law
United States, February 3, 2017
There is a gross mismatch between the risk asserted and the persons banned – of precisely the kind that is at odds with the “objective and reasonable” test that a policy must satisfy to avoid characterization under international law as illegal discrimination.
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Dec5
Protecting Refugee Property and Dignity: A Brief Comment on the Legal and Ethical Basis of the Danish “Jewelry Law”
Denmark, December 5, 2016
In framing the Danish “Jewelry Law” as an example of a law that occupies the grey area between what is legal and what is ethical, this article seeks to understand what such a grey area means for our current system of international protection in Europe and beyond.
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Oct7
A Really, Really Bad Month for Refugees
October 7, 2016
In twin summits in New York this past September, governments had the chance to agree to a new era of refugee protection. That did not happen.
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Jul11
Can Israel Freely Interpret the Refugee Convention (When it Comes to Palestinian Asylum Seekers)?
Israel, July 11, 2016
An Israeli immigration tribunal recently decided that (all) Palestinians who seek asylum in Israel are excluded from the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees under Article 1D thereof. In doing so, the Tribunal went against numerous decisions and academic writings to the contrary.
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Jun22
The Smuggled and the Smuggler: Exploring the Distinctions Between Mutual Aid, Humanitarian Refugee Assistance and People Smuggling in Canadian Law
Canada, June 22, 2016
In recent years, it appears that states have increasingly confronted the issue of people smuggling and begun addressing important questions that arise in the asylum context: what are the rights of asylum seekers who migrate by way of smuggling operations? What are the obligations of states to receive them and to consider their claims to refugee status? How do these rights and obligations intersect with international legal instruments aimed at combatting people smuggling?
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Apr1
Recasting Detention of Asylum Seekers in Bulgaria: The Good and Bad about EU Asylum Law
Bulgaria, April 1, 2016
For the first time, Bulgarian legislation dictates circumstances under which detention of asylum applicants is legal. While the new detailed national provisions are in the spirit of the EU's Reception Conditions Directive (recast), there are still many questions left unanswered, and the danger of abuse is of real concern.
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Mar15
Naturalization in Tanzania: Lessons from the Ebb and Flow of the Process
Tanzania, March 15, 2016
The granting of citizenship to Burundian refugees by the Government of Tanzania should be commended as a significant and unprecedented response to a protracted refugee situation. However, the process remains poorly understood, from the factors that resulted in the suspension of the program in 2010 to those that led to its final implementation in 2014.
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Mar1
A Global Solution to a Global Refugee Crisis
March 1, 2016
If implemented as intended, the UN Refugee Convention points the way to a truly global solution to the refugee crisis.
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Feb15
Hotspots and Relocation Schemes: The Right Therapy for the Common European Asylum System?
European Union , February 15, 2016
The Common European Asylum System ("CEAS") and the Schengen travel area are in considerable jeopardy. The spontaneous arrival of approximately one million persons in 2015, 90% from the top refugee-producing countries of the world, has cruelly exposed their paradoxes and set in motion centrifugal forces that appear to threaten their very existence. The remedy proposed by the EU institutions includes as its centrepieces the “hotspot approach” and intra-EU relocation schemes. Great store is being placed in their implementation.
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Oct6
Complicity under Article 1F(a) of the 1951 Convention
October 6, 2015
Given the prevalence of armed conflict and its essentially civilian nature, more and more individuals have the potential of falling within the provisions of Article 1F(a) of the Convention. The focus of this article is on “complicity” and how this is applied and interpreted by some of the leading jurisdictions in international refugee law to exclude individuals from Convention refugee status under Article 1F(a).
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