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Refugee law

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Full-Text Articles in Human Rights Law

Refugee Rights Are Not Negotiable, James C. Hathaway, Anne K. Cusick Jan 2000

Refugee Rights Are Not Negotiable, James C. Hathaway, Anne K. Cusick

Articles

America's troubled relationship with international law, in particular human rights law, is well documented. In many cases, the United States simply will not agree to be bound by international human rights treaties. For example, the United States has yet to ratify even such fundamental agreements as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. When the United States does agree to become a party to an international human rights treaty, it has often sought to condition its acceptance …


Foreword To Amicus Brief On The Status Of Palestinian Refugees Under International Refugee Law, Guy Goodwin-Gill, Susan M. Akram Jan 2000

Foreword To Amicus Brief On The Status Of Palestinian Refugees Under International Refugee Law, Guy Goodwin-Gill, Susan M. Akram

Faculty Scholarship

Palestinian refugees have a status that is unique under international refugee law. Unlike any other group or category of refugees in the world, Palestinians are singled out for exceptional treatment in the major international legal instruments which govern the rights and obligations of states towards refugees: the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; the Statute of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; and, specifically with regard to the Palestinians, the Regulations governing the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East. Almost all states …


The Michigan Guidelines On The Internal Protection Alternative Jan 1999

The Michigan Guidelines On The Internal Protection Alternative

Michigan Journal of International Law

In many jurisdictions around the world, 'internal flight' or 'internal relocation' rules are increasingly relied upon to deny refugee status to persons at risk of persecution for a Convention reason in part, but not all, of their country of origin. In this, as in so many areas of refugee law and policy, the viability of a universal commitment to protection is challenged by divergence in state practice. These Guidelines seek to define the ways in which international refugee law should inform what the authors believe is more accurately described as the 'internal protection alternative.' It is the product of collective …


International Refugee Law: The Michigan Guidelines On The Internal Protection Alternative, James C. Hathaway Jan 1999

International Refugee Law: The Michigan Guidelines On The Internal Protection Alternative, James C. Hathaway

Articles

International refugee law is designed only to provide a back-up source of protection to seriously at-risk persons. Its purpose is not to displace the primary rule that individuals should look to their state of nationality for protection, but simply to provide a safety net in the event a state fails to meet its basic protective responsibilities.1 As observed by the Supreme Court of Canada, "[t]he international community was meant to be a forum of second resort for the persecuted, a 'surrogate,' approachable upon the failure of local protection. The rationale upon which international refugee law rests is not simply the …


America's Apostasy, James C. Hathaway Jan 1999

America's Apostasy, James C. Hathaway

Articles

It has often struck me that the prominence of the Restatement of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States epitomizes the plight of international law in this country. The title of this standard reference on international law does not even refer to international law, but instead to foreign relations law. That is, it is meant to set out the standards by which we may legitimately judge the conduct of others. The clear, if unintended, message is that the Restatement is not really a codification of laws that bind us. And indeed, it is explicitly not just a codification, but …


The Right To Return Under International Law Following Mass Dislocation: The Bosnia Precedent?, Eric Rosand Jan 1998

The Right To Return Under International Law Following Mass Dislocation: The Bosnia Precedent?, Eric Rosand

Michigan Journal of International Law

On the night of May 2, 1997, some twenty-five abandoned Serb houses were set on fire in the Croat-controlled municipality of Drvar, part of the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was clear from all the circumstances that Croats organized the arson of houses in Drvar to obstruct the return of the original Serb residents to the area. Croat authorities then made a concerted effort to resettle displaced Croats in Drvar in order to solidify a stretch of "ethnically-pure" territory adjacent to the Republic of Croatia. These displaced Bosnian Serbs are just a few of the estimated 2.3 million …


The State And The Post-Cold War Refugee Regime: New Models, New Questions, Julie Mertus Jan 1998

The State And The Post-Cold War Refugee Regime: New Models, New Questions, Julie Mertus

Michigan Journal of International Law

The thesis of this essay is that within the refugee regime the move away from states and adherence to states are two sides of the same coin. To some degree the new refugee regime reflects the trend away from both the state and strict notions of sovereignty. Nonetheless, the new regime also exposes the staying power of the statist paradigm. In many respects, the role of states has indeed been altered, but states have retained their role as important and often essential actors. While other observers have commented on specific geographic or thematic changes in the refugee regime, this essay …


Can International Refugee Law Be Made Relevant Again?, James C. Hathaway Jan 1998

Can International Refugee Law Be Made Relevant Again?, James C. Hathaway

Articles

Ironic though it may seem, I believe that the present breakdown in the authority of international refugee law is attributable to its failure explicitly to accommodate the reasonable preoccupations of governments in the countries to which refugees flee. International refugee law is part of a system of state self-regulation. It will therefore be respected only to the extent that receiving states believe that it fairly reconciles humanitarian objectives to their national interests. In contrast, refugee law arbitrarily assigns full legal responsibility for protection to whatever state asylum-seekers are able to reach. It is a peremptory regime. Apart from the right …


Throwing Away The Key: Limits On The Plenary Power?, Richard A. Boswell Jan 1997

Throwing Away The Key: Limits On The Plenary Power?, Richard A. Boswell

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of From Welcomed Exiles to Illegal Immigrants: Cuban Migration to the U.S., 1959-1995 by Felix Masud-Piloto and The Abandoned Ones: The Imprisonment and Uprising of the Marial Boat People by Mark S. Hamm.


Making International Refugee Law Relevant Again: A Proposal For Collectivized And Solution-Oriented Protection, James C. Hathaway, R. Alexander Neve Jan 1997

Making International Refugee Law Relevant Again: A Proposal For Collectivized And Solution-Oriented Protection, James C. Hathaway, R. Alexander Neve

Articles

International refugee law is in crisis. Even as armed conflict and human rights abuse continue to force individuals and groups to flee their home countries, many governments are withdrawing from the legal duty to provide refugees with the protection they require. While governments proclaim a willingness to assist refugees as a matter of political discretion or humanitarian goodwill, they appear committed to a pattern of defensive strategies designed to avoid international legal responsibility toward involuntary migrants. Some see this shift away from a legal paradigm of refugee protection as a source for enhanced operational flexibility in the face of changed …


Irreconcilable Differences? Divorcing Regugee Protections From Human Rights Norms, Karen Musalo Jan 1994

Irreconcilable Differences? Divorcing Regugee Protections From Human Rights Norms, Karen Musalo

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article will discuss in greater detail the profound defects of the Court's Zacarias decision. Section I will discuss the interpretation of key provisions of the 1980 Refugee Act, and describe the case of Jairo Elias Zacarias. Section II will review the plain language and legislative intent of the Act, including the congressional purpose of conforming to the 1967 Protocol. Section III will consider issues of burden of proof, and will examine the substantive impact which Zacarias has had on refugee cases. Section IV will focus on religious persecution as a paradigm of the inadequacy of an intent-based requirement and …


The Haitian Refugee Crisis: A Quest For Human Rights, Thomas David Jones Jan 1993

The Haitian Refugee Crisis: A Quest For Human Rights, Thomas David Jones

Michigan Journal of International Law

On June 14, 1993, the Vienna Conference on Human Rights, sponsored by the United Nations, commenced its opening session mired in controversy over the validity of a universal human rights doctrine. Many Third World or developing nations contended that Western norms of justice and fairness were not applicable to their societies. Thus, the developing nations articulated a culture-bound or relativistic concept of fundamental human rights. The developing nations' particularistic position was championed by such nations as China, Iran, Cuba, and Vietnam, signatories to the Bangkok Declaration of 1993. The Bangkok Declaration provides, inter alia, that though human rights are …


State-Centered Refugee Law: From Resettlement To Containment, T. Alexander Aleinikoff Jan 1992

State-Centered Refugee Law: From Resettlement To Containment, T. Alexander Aleinikoff

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper will explore the international regime of refugee law, seeking to show how legal "solutions" to the "refugee problem" are profoundly state-centered. I will argue that discussions of "solutions" in refugee law and policy have taken a dramatic turn in recent years, replacing an exilic bias with a source-control bias. This new orientation focuses attention on countries of origin, supporting repatriation and human rights monitoring before and after return. I suggest that the shift in emphasis, albeit grounded in part in humanitarian concerns, presents real risks when realized within a system committed to the protection of human rights …


Sanctuary: The New Underground Railroad, Daniel M. Brinks May 1987

Sanctuary: The New Underground Railroad, Daniel M. Brinks

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Sanctuary: The New Underground Railroad by Renny Golden and Michael McConnell


Victims Of Natural Disasters In U.S. Refugee Law And Policy, Janet L. Parker Jan 1982

Victims Of Natural Disasters In U.S. Refugee Law And Policy, Janet L. Parker

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note reviews the history and antecedents of subsection 203(a)(7)(B), suggests explanations for its repeal, and explores alternative relief for the individuals who might formerly have benefited from it. It is presumed that some victims of natural disasters have a need for refuge equal to that of the refugee fleeing persecution. This is not to say that every "catastrophic natural calamity," as the now defunct statutory formulation put it, produces victims requiring the extraordinary relief of asylum. Yet, when the disaster constitutes a continuing threat to human life, and aid to the stricken area cannot restore an acceptable standard of …


Refugees, Law, And Development In Africa, Peter Nobel Jan 1982

Refugees, Law, And Development In Africa, Peter Nobel

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article concerns those large movements of people in Africa, which have been called the "African refugee problem." However, large and intriguing migrations of populations have occurred in Africa for centuries. The earliest migrations reflected the spread of culture, the growth of trade and the development of roving early kingdoms. The unique history behind the refugee dilemma, however, begins with the instability spawned by slave trading and colonialism. Sensitivity to these eras heightens an understanding of why today's Africa is wrought with economic crises, territorial disputes, unnatural frontiers, misfit ethnic combinations, and more refugees than any other continent. Against this …


International Human Rights Forums: A Means Of Recourse For Refugees, Amy Young-Anawaty Jan 1982

International Human Rights Forums: A Means Of Recourse For Refugees, Amy Young-Anawaty

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article explores the possibility of using some of the other international agreements to secure the rights of asylum seekers. These treaties belong to the relatively new body of international law- human rights law- which gives broad protection to individuals everywhere regardless of status. In a significant development for international law, 12 institutions and procedures have been established internationally and regionally to monitor the enforcement of these human rights agreements. Several of these institutions, by virtue of treaty or statute, even possess the competence to hear complaints about states' violations of human rights. Insofar as the claims of refugees fall …


Exiting From The Soviet Union: Emigrés Or Refugees?, Zvi Gitelman Jan 1982

Exiting From The Soviet Union: Emigrés Or Refugees?, Zvi Gitelman

Michigan Journal of International Law

One of the most dramatic developments in the Soviet Union during the past decade has been the mass emigration of citizens, mostly of Jewish, German, and Armenian nationality. Emigration from the USSR had not been permitted, except for a tiny handful, since the early 1920s, although in the aftermath of World War II several hundred thousand Soviet citizens managed to remain in the West. These were either prisoners of war, slave laborers, Nazi collaborators, or simply people who took advantage of wartime chaos to flee the Soviet Union. But between 1971 and the end of 1980, over 300,000 Soviet citizens …


The Refugee Act Of 1980: Its Past And Future, David A. Martin Jan 1982

The Refugee Act Of 1980: Its Past And Future, David A. Martin

Michigan Journal of International Law

Offered here is a description of the key provisions of the Refugee Act, suggesting why they took the shape they did and outlining the major difficulties that remain in crafting and sustaining effective refugee and asylum policies.


Refugees And Refugee Law In A World In Transition, Atle Grahl-Madsen Jan 1982

Refugees And Refugee Law In A World In Transition, Atle Grahl-Madsen

Michigan Journal of International Law

In country after country a political polarization is growing, a movement away from the center-to the right and to the left. In states with a less than stable political structure, coups d'etat and strongmen are commonplace. International law is broken as a matter of convenience. The media are filled with news of interventions, aggressions, even warfare. Human rights are frequently trodden under foot. And we are faced with a rising wave of xenophobia.


Refugee Resettlement In The United States: The Role Of The Voluntary Agencies, Norman L. Zucker Jan 1982

Refugee Resettlement In The United States: The Role Of The Voluntary Agencies, Norman L. Zucker

Michigan Journal of International Law

Statistics on refugee resettlement in the United States are obsolete as soon as they are published. What does remain current and constant, however, is that there is a global refugee crisis. The numbers of refugees in the world are not likely to diminish, and indeed, given the vagaries of international politics, the world's refugee population is likely to increase. As a major world power the United States has had to evolve a refugee policy. This policy operates on two levels: on the foreign level there has been an attempt to provide for the regional and international resettlement of refugees and …


Deportation And The Refugee, Elwin Griffith Jan 1982

Deportation And The Refugee, Elwin Griffith

Michigan Journal of International Law

Long ago when it was unnecessary to restrict the number of aliens entering the United States, there was little distinction between refugees and other immigrants. Both groups shared similar motivations and problems. Some immigrated solely for economic reasons, while others sought new horizons because of political or religious persecution at home. In the main, though, the desire to immigrate was nurtured by the yearning for a better life.


Federal Funding Of United States Refugee Resettlement Before And After The Refugee Act Of 1980, James A. Elgass Jan 1982

Federal Funding Of United States Refugee Resettlement Before And After The Refugee Act Of 1980, James A. Elgass

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note begins with an examination of the problems of establishing, funding, and terminating previous resettlement programs involving Cuban and Indochinese refugees. These programs were limited to assisting refugees from specific geographic areas. Each refugee influx called for new legislation, and "new" programs frequently lingered on beyond their useful lives. Uncertainty about the timing of their eventual phaseout left state and local administrators unable to plan for a smooth transition following the termination of federal funding.


Entry And Exclusion Of Refugees: The Obligations Of States And The Protection Function Of The Office Of The United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, Guy S. Goodwin-Gill Jan 1982

Entry And Exclusion Of Refugees: The Obligations Of States And The Protection Function Of The Office Of The United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, Guy S. Goodwin-Gill

Michigan Journal of International Law

Refugee problems today tend to have one factor in common-the huge numbers of people involved. But whether it is a case of one or of a mass of individuals, each arriving asylum seeker represents a challenge to established principles of state sovereignty. International jurists once wrote of the free movement of persons between nations, unhampered by passport and visa control. Since the late nineteenth century, however, the principle most widely accepted has been that each state retains exclusive control- an absolute discretion- over the admission to its territory of foreign nationals, refugees or not. Although in practice many countries concede …


Between Sovereigns: A Reexamination Of The Refugee's Status, Stephen B. Young Jan 1982

Between Sovereigns: A Reexamination Of The Refugee's Status, Stephen B. Young

Michigan Journal of International Law

A refugee leaves the country of his or her national origin because the political community will not or can no longer vouchsafe the refugee's life, liberty, or peace of mind. In many cases, the sovereign of national origin actively and coercively deprives the refugee of those basic components of human dignity. By taking flight, refugees enter a precarious realm between sovereigns. They may no longer rely upon the solicitude of their native sovereign, yet international law gives them no effective replacement for that power. They gain neither a right to asylum in other countries nor one to the assumption of …


Appendix Iii, Michigan Journal Of International Law Jan 1982

Appendix Iii, Michigan Journal Of International Law

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this section: • Review of Foreign Laws


Appendix Iv, Michigan Journal Of International Law Jan 1982

Appendix Iv, Michigan Journal Of International Law

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this section: • Selected Works on the Rights and Status of Refugees Under United States and International Law, 1960-1980


The Development Of Refugee Law, Paul Weis Jan 1982

The Development Of Refugee Law, Paul Weis

Michigan Journal of International Law

In customary international law, nationality provides the principal link between the individual and the law of nations. Refugees are commonly understood to be persons who have been compelled to leave their homes on account of natural catastrophes or because of political events; they may be inside or outside their country of origin. Refugees may be stateless or not; most present-day refugees are not stateless. Only international political refugees-persons who are outside their country of origin for political reasons-are discussed in this article, an overview of sources of refugee law, and a preface to the articles in this volume which take …


Appendix Ii, Michigan Journal Of International Law Jan 1982

Appendix Ii, Michigan Journal Of International Law

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this section: • Review of United States Law


Significant Refugee Crises Since World War Ii And The Response Of The International Community, James L. Carlin Jan 1982

Significant Refugee Crises Since World War Ii And The Response Of The International Community, James L. Carlin

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article analyzes some of the significant post-World War II refugee crises and describes in summary how the international community responded to each. Overpopulation, legal and illegal migration, and repatriation of thousands of colonials have had a negative influence on public opinion with respect to rescuing and assisting refugees. Yet today the refugee problem and the attendant human suffering is growing. There are serious apprehensions about the mounting costs and the ability of those concerned to cope. The international machinery is stretched; inflation and unemployment in the industrialized world have further complicated the search for solutions. Present and future refugee …