A Reconsideration of the Underlying Premise of Refugee Law

Abstract

Refugee law is often thought of as a means of institutionalizing societal concern for the well-being of those forced to flee their countries, grounded in the concept of humanitarianism and in basic principles of human rights. This chapter looks into the underlying premise of international refugee law, with a view toward critically assessing its actual and potential relevance in meeting the needs of refugees in a universal context. It argues that neither a humanitarian nor a human rights vision can account for refugee law as codified in the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the Protocol adopted under its authority. Refugee law, with its predominant emphasis on the establishment of secure conditions of exile, is fundamentally a product of European political culture. The first refugee accords emerged between 1922 and 1926 to address the influx of Russian and Armenian refugees.

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