The 1969 Convention

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Sharpe
Keyword(s):  
Prima Facie ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Temporary Protection ◽  
Key Features

Chapter 3 first addresses the regional refugee definition according to the 1969 Convention , beginning with a description of article I(2)’s international influence and an interpretation of the definition using orthodox methods. The context and object and purpose of the 1969 Convention are discussed, followed by analysis of the ‘every person’ term and each of the 1969 Events and the test for refugee status under article I(2), including a discussion of internal flight alternative, ongoing risk, and sur place claims. Section B then addresses how article I(2) has been invoked in practice. Section B also addresses prima facie refugee status determination. Section C covers further key features of the 1969 Convention: whether it advances an individual right to asylum; non-refoulement; the formalization of responsibility sharing, temporary protection, and voluntary repatriation; and the Convention’s prohibition of subversive activities. Section D concludes.

South America’s Response to the Venezuelan Exodus: A Spirit of Regional Cooperation?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Ochoa
Keyword(s):  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
South American ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Guidance Note ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
Temporary Protection ◽  
High Commissioner

Abstract Based on the premise that massive influxes of Venezuelans might overwhelm their asylum systems, South American host States have resorted to ‘Temporary Protection or Stay Arrangements’ (TPSAs) as an uncoordinated but pragmatic response in times of regional hardship. As the Venezuelan situation deteriorated, however, a May 2019 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Guidance Note encouraged host States to apply their extended refugee definitions in tandem with prima facie refugee status determination (PFRSD), an expedited procedure that can prevent the overburdening of asylum capacities. Despite the availability of a more favourable approach, host States have continued to rely on TPSAs, raising questions about whether they truly intend to adopt a regionally coordinated plan, as agreed in the Quito Process. Drawing primarily on domestic refugee legislation and UNHCR’s ‘Guidelines on International Protection No 11’, the article argues that host States’ motivation to provide temporary protection is not so much related to the potential overburdening of their asylum systems but rather to the long-term commitments that would come with the granting of refugee status. It is shown that PFRSD is already regulated in the national laws of four South American States, with the potential of turning into a regional centralized response, but its application remains largely ignored. The article ultimately serves as a reminder for South American governments that displaced Venezuelans do not need temporary humanitarian visas as they are, first and foremost, entitled to legal protection under domestic refugee law.

scholarly journals Managing and Contatoing Displacement after the Cold War: UNHCR and Somali Refugees in Kenya

Refuge ◽  
1997 ◽  
pp. 6-10
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hyndman
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Somali Refugees ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Human Displacement

This paper argues that distinct patterns of managing human displacement have emerged since the end of the Cold War. Using the case of Somali refugees in Kenya, the author illustrates what some of these strategies are: the deployment of "preventive zones" on the Somalian side of the border; the designation of prima facie refugee status which restricts Somali refugees to camps, and the reduction of opportunities for resettlement abroad. All of these serve to regionalize displacement in camps, for the most part, without providing a sustainable solution to the social and political crisis at hand.

Remembering the SIEV X: Who Cares for the Bodies of the Stateless, Lost at Sea?

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Gibbings
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Illegal Immigrants ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Fishing Vessel ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Temporary Protection ◽  
National Capital ◽  
Women And Children

Abstract The SIEV X was a tiny fishing vessel traveling from Indonesia to Australia in 2001, carrying around four hundred people seeking asylum after fleeing from the warfare and persecution predominantly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many were women and children trying to enter Australia to join fathers and husbands already granted refugee status but not allowed to bring in family members because of new Australian laws on “Temporary Protection Visas.” Of these, 353 drowned when the boat sank in international waters. The conservative Australian government denied responsibility, using the event in an election campaign to play on fears about illegal entry and border defense in the Islamophobic climate in the aftermath of 9/11. Yet many everyday Australians eventually became involved in a collaborative design process to create a memorial to those asylum seekers. This article discusses the debates around memorials for those lost at sea, and particularly for those who might be portrayed as enemies or “illegal immigrants” whose coming threatens national borders. It identifies the conditions under which the campaign to commemorate those who died on the SIEV X moved from being a minority interest to become a cause so widely supported by Australians across the country that the memorial was eventually erected in the heart of the national capital.

scholarly journals The Many Faces of "Prima Facie"

Refuge ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-163
Author(s):  
Jean-François Durieux
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Many ◽  
Evidentiary Standards

The majority of the world’s refugees have secured a legal status without resort to an individual examination of their claims. The practice of “group” determination, particularly in Africa, is interesting in several aspects, not least in that it allows a real-time assessment of a need for international protection. While these positive aspects should not be lost as many jurisdictions in the developing world are equipping themselves with individual asylum procedures, it is equally important to clarify, and hopefully to harmonize, the procedural and evidentiary standards applicable to group determination. How presumptions operate—including their rebuttal or removal—is a question worth examining, and not only with regard to refugee status determination (RSD) in mass influx situations. Legal presumptions and other evidentiary shortcuts have also been introduced into individual RSD procedures in industrialized states. These include mechanisms that are highly problematic from a protection point of view, such as the “safe country of origin” presumption of a “manifestly unfounded” claim. However, administrative bodies and courts have also, from time to time, used some form of prima facie admission of evidence in order to lighten the burden of asylum applicants, while speeding up the RSD process. Furthermore, this article argues that extralegal presumptions, based on implicit value judgments about national or subnational groups, almost invariably colour the interviewing and decision-making processes in individual cases. Th is finding makes it all the more necessary : to (i) to re-assess the signifi cance of “risk-group affi liation” as an element of the refugee defi nition; and (ii) formally recognize the role of evidentiary shortcuts in RSD, and recommend appropriate standards for their operation.

Forced migration of ethnic Kachins from Myanmar to China: Law and politics behind China's response

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-208
Author(s):  
Lili Song
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Yunnan Province ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Refugee Convention ◽  
Law And Politics

This article examines China's response to the influxes of ethnic Kachins displaced by armed conflict from Myanmar and discusses the probable legal and policy considerations underlying China's response. It is based on the existing literature as well as fieldwork in Yunnan Province, China and Kachin State, Myanmar. Since June 2011, more than 10,000 displaced Kachins have entered into Yunnan. China has provided little assistance to them and forcibly repatriated about 5,000 of them in August and September 2012. Although displaced Kachins in Yunnan qualify prima facie for refugee status under the Refugee Convention and Protocol, China refuses to recognize them as refugees and primarily relies on the 1997 Chinese–Myanmar Border Management Agreement and the 1990 Yunnan Rules to handle them. China's concerns about domestic stability and desire to protect its political, strategic and economic interests in Myanmar arguably have contributed to China's policy toward displaced Kachins.

scholarly journals Legal Refugee Recognition in the Urban South: Formal v. de Facto Refugee Status

Refuge ◽  
2007 ◽  
pp. 11-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kagan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Urban Refugees ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
Urban South ◽  
Status Recognition

The legal relevance of the “urban refugee” concept in the Middle East and Africa stems from the practice of practicing different forms of refugee status determination (RSD) in rural as opposed to urban areas. Urban refugees are usually subject to rigorous individual adjudication, while rural refugees are typically recognized on a prima facie basis. This difference in procedure has no basis in the substance of refugee law, and it marginalizes urban refugees in two key ways. First, in Africa and the Middle East, refugee status recognition is used by host governments to prevent refugee integration, to force refugees to live far from population centres, and to transfer responsibility for their welfare to international agencies. Second, individualized RSD procedures in wide use by the United Nations generally lack key fairness safeguards, increasing the risk that genuine refugees will be wrongfully rejected. This phenomenon means that urban refugee populations will often be systematically undercounted, and will include a significant number of de facto refugees who are in fact refugees in danger of refoulement, but whose applications were rejected and who thus have no access to the protection and resources otherwise targeted at refugees.

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