In 2021 and beyond, refugee resettlement remains an indispensable protection tool for refugees facing particular vulnerability in countries of (first) refuge. Alarmingly, the resettlement numbers have reached the lowest levels on record in at least two decades. The UNHCR, a crucial actor in global resettlement since its creation, encounters the challenge of persuading potential resettlement countries to increase their resettlement offers.

While many question the relevance of the 1951 Refugee Convention today, refugee protection in the EU has actually expanded in the past 30 years. In just one generation, doctrinal shifts and factual obstacles have ensured that effective protection is accessible to more persons. That this has occurred despite increasingly restrictive laws and xenophobic discourses only showcases the resilience of the Convention and its principles.

2021 ist aus migrationshistorischer und völkerrechtlicher Sicht ein ambivalentes Gedenkjahr. Neben der in dieser Blogreihe erinnerten Gründung des UNHCR und der Unterzeichnung der Genfer Flüchtlingskonvention (GFK) vor 70 Jahren sollte dabei auch ein großer Bruch derer Prinzipien, der Bau der Berliner Mauer vor 60 Jahren, nicht vergessen werden.

  By Cüneyt Gürer and Mehmet A. Sözer   This article presents policy related results of a data analysis conducted to understand the nature of refugee worries (concerns) during the integration process in Germany. Data comes from the German Socio-Economic Panel study (SOEP), which has a specific data subset collected from refugee population living in […]

Der Beitrag Understanding Refugee Worries in the Integration Process erschien zuerst auf Netzwerk Fluchtforschung.

The European Commission’s promise to renew its cooperation with refugees’ countries of origin and transit should be critically assessed in the light of the latest proposals: Can these really represent a change of paradigm with regard to the long criticized one-sided security bias, a growing externalization of border controls and imposed conditionalities on third countries?

Von Ulrike Krause und Marcus Engler Der aktuelle Global Trends-Bericht des Flüchtlingshilfswerks der Vereinten Nationen (UNHCR) zeigt, dass die Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre auch 2020 angehalten haben. Die Zahlen von Geflüchteten sind wieder gestiegen.

1969 entwickelte die OAU ( Organisation für Afrikanische Einheit, heute die Afrikanische Union, AU ) ihre eigene Flüchtlingskonvention, welche afrikanische Werte widerspiegeln sollte. Sie wurde am 10. September 1969 in Addis Abeba beschlossen und umfasste viele rechtliche Innovationen.

Although UNHCR has a mandatory duty to promote accession to the 1951 Refugee Convention, UNHCR appears to increasingly take the back seat when it comes to petitioning for state accession. Universal accession to the Convention has proven almost impossible to achieve and new states parties are rare.

This blogpost complicates the received wisdom on the origins of the Additional Protocol of 1967.  Following B.S. Chimni, I argue that the need for the Protocol was heightened by the upheavals of decolonization, in particular the emergence of regional refugee protocols in Asia and Africa that threatened to expose the UN Refugee Convention of 1951 as little more than another “regional” treaty.

Although Indonesia has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and is deemed unlikely to do so in the near future for a number of reasons, Indonesia has been hosting thousands of refugees over the last four decades. Outsourcing protection tasks to the UNHCR and other international and local migration organisations and charities has helped Indonesia to maintain a reputation as hospitable host.

Von Lena Laube und Jonathan Eisleb Das erste Jahr der Coronapandemie hat die zivile Seenotrettung weiter dramatisch ausgebremst. Der nötige Infektionsschutz hat den Handlungsspielraum der Seenotretter*innen eingeschränkt, aber die EU-Staaten finden auch andere und immer neue Gründe, um die Schiffe der NGOs am Auslaufen zu hindern.