Legal Responses In Specific Terms Of Migration Challenges

Legal Responses In Specific Terms Of Migration Challenges Presented by: Dr. BÉRES Date: 6 May 2024 The Relevance of the Refugee Convention Nowadays - State Parties: 146 - Central Europe: - Accession (a), succession (d) - Croatia • - Czech Republic • - 12 Mar 2001 (d) Slovakia • - 7 Aug 1991 (a) Serbia • - 27 Sep 1991 (a) Romania • - 14 Mar 1989 (a) Poland • - 11 May 1993 (d) Hungary • - 12 Oct 1992 (d) 4 Feb 1993 (d) Slovenia • 6 Jul 1992 (d) - UNHCR Refugee Data Finder (last update: 24 October 2023) - 110 million • - 62.5 million • - Specific categories: Forcibly displaced people Specific categories: IDPs 36.4 million • Specific categories: Refugees - 6.1 million • - 5.3 million • - Specific categories: Asylum seekers Specific categories: Other people in need of international protection 52% originate from just three countries • Specific categories: Syrian Arab Republic, Afghanistan, Ukraine - UNHCR Refugee Data Finder (last update: 24 October 2023) - Islamic Republic of Iran • - Türkiye • - Number of hosted refugees: 2.5 million Columbia • - Number of hosted refugees: 3.4 million Germany • - Number of hosted refugees: 3.4 million Number of hosted refugees: 2.5 million Pakistan • Number of hosted refugees: 2.1 million Historical Background - A response to the horrifying events taken place during the WWII (Holocaust, Stalinist expansion) - Offering protection for persecuted victims of highly organized predatory States - Approach: a kind of prestige for Western States to offer asylum for refugees from the Soviet bloc - 1967 Protocol: universal scope Textual Language of the Refugee Convention - 1951: no universal human rights treaties yet - A State-centered approach - Refugee rights under the Convention are neither unalienable nor unconditional - Basic set of rights + additional entitlements Who is a Refugee? Art. 1(A)(2) of the Refugee Convention - For the purposes of the present Convention, the term "refugee" shall apply to any person who: • (Refugees Having Nationality)  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; • (Stateless Persons)  Or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. The Limitations of the Refugee Definition - From the outset, the refugee protection regime was intended to be restrictive and partial, a compromise between State sovereignty and the protection of non-citizen victims of serious human rights violations The Preconditions of the Refugee Status - Inclusion clause - Exclusion clause - Cessation clause Concluding Remarks - Not able to provide protection for • IDPs • Those who flee their home countries without persecution or • Owing to some other drivers not enumerated under Art. 1(A)(2), e.g. armed conflicts, famine, extreme poverty - Not a human rights treaty guaranteeing unalienable and unconditional rights paired with refugee status - Refugee rights are also incremental, that is, the more the bond strengthens between the refugee and the asylum State, the more the Refugee Convention provides for refugees