Redundant or essential? How politics shaped the outcome of the 1967 protocol

International Journal of Refugee Law

Volumn 19, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 703-728

  Davies, Sara E ^a  

^a QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AFRICAN IMMIGRANT; ASIAN IMMIGRANT; INTERNATIONAL LAW; INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION; LEGAL SYSTEM; POLICY MAKING; POLITICAL CONFLICT; REFUGEE;

EID: 44449160402     PISSN: 09538186     EISSN: 14643715     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/ijrl/eem068     Document Type: Article

References (173)

1. UNHCR, Explanatory Note, handed to Mr Goormaghtigh of the Carnegie Endowment on 24 Sept. 1964, Folio 24, 16/1/3 AMEND, Series 1, Fonds 11.
2. Article 1B specifies that the application of the definition of the 'refugee' in Article 1A of the 1951 Convention is either (a) 'events occurring in Europe before 1 January 1951'; or (b) 'events occurring in Europe or elsewhere before 1 January 1951' (emphasis added). P. Weis, The Refugee Convention 1951: The Travaux Preparatoires Analysed with a Commentary by the late Dr Paul Weis (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1995), xiii-xiv.
3. K. Bem, 'The Coming of a "Blank Cheque" - Europe, the 1951 Convention, and the 1967 Protocol', 16 IJPL 609 (2004), 609-627.
4. I. C. Jackson, The Refugee In Groop Situations (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1999)
5. K. Bem, ibid.
6. K. Bem, above n. 3.
7. G. Goodwin-Gill, The Refugee in International Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 297, n.3.
8. UNHCR, High Commissioner Schnyder to Mr Stavropoulos, Memorandum by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the Report of the Colloquium on Legal Aspects of Refugee Problems held in April 1965 in Bellegio (Como), Italy, 6 Aug. 1965, Folio 136, 16/1/3 AMEND, Series 1, Fonds 11.
9. B. Rajagopol, International Law from Below: Development, Social Movements and Third World Resistance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
10. D. Kennedy, 'A New Stream of International Law Scholarship' (1988-1989) 7 Wisconsin International Law Journal 1-50
11. M. Koskenniemi, From Apology to Utopia: The Structure of International Iegal Argument (Helsinki: Finnish Lawyers' Publishing Company, 1989), xvi, 40-51.
12. For an in-depth discussion of the struggles that UNHCR faced in its development, see, G. Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics: A Perilous Path (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), Chs. 3-4.
13. M. Koskenniemi, 'International Law in Europe: Between Tradition and Renewal' (2005) 16 The European Journal of International Law 119.
14. Jackson, above n. 4, 143-175.
15. L. Holborn, Refugees: A Problem of Our Time (New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1975), 657-659
16. Loescher, above n. 10, 188.
17. Bem, above n. 3, 627.
18. Bem, above n. 3
19. Jackson, above n. 4
20. Goodwin-Gill, above n. 6.
21. E. Lentini, 'The Definition of Refugee in International Law' (1985) 5 Boston College Third World Law Journal;
22. A. Zolberg, A. Suhrkeand S. Aguayo, Escape From Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 25-31
23. J. Hathaway, The Law of Refugee Status (Toronto: Butterworths, 1991), 10-11
24. A. Grahl-Madsen, 'Refugees and Displaced Persons: Meeting the Challenge', in P. Macalister-Smith and G. Alfredsson (eds.), The Land Beyond: Collected Essays on Refugee Law and Policy by Atle Grahl Madsen (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2001), 318.
25. UNHCR, Memorandum, above n. 7
26. UNGA, Official Records of the Third Committee, Twenty-First Session, 1447th Meeting, 5 Dec. 1966, 416.
27. The High Commissioner wrote in 1966 that he had 'given further consideration to a further legal problem, which arises in connexion with the substantive definition of the term "refugee" in the 1951 Convention. Experience, and more especially recent experience of new refugee situations in Africa, has shown that certain States, for various reasons, may not be able to resort to individual eligibility determination... Having regard to this experience, it might be of advantage if the existing definition was supplemented by certain criteria for the prima facie determination of such group eligibility'. UNHCR, Memorandum, above n. 7, 6-7.
28. The need for individual status determination still exists today for those in fear of refoulement, as demonstrated by Michael Alexander and Michael Kagan. M. Alexander, 'Refugee Status Determination Conducted by UNHCR', 11 IJRL 251-289 (1999)
29. M. Kagan, 'The Beleaguered Gatekeeper: Protection Challenges Posed by UNHCR Refugee Status Determination', 18 IJRL 1-29 (2006).
30. Zolberg, et al., above n. 16
31. Hathaway, above n. 16
32. S. Schmeidl, 'Conflict and Forced Migration: A Quantitative Review', in A. R. Zolberg and P. M. Benda (eds.), Global Migrants, Global Refugees: Problems and Solutions', 2001.
33. M. McGuiness, 'Legal and Normative Dimensions of the Manipulation of Refugees', in S. J. Stedman and F. Tanner (eds.), Refugee Manipulation: War, Politics, and the Abuse of Human Suffering, 2003.
34. For more on this point, see, G. Chatelard, 'Jordan as a transit country: semi-protectionist immigration policies and their effects on Iraqi forced migrants', New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper No. 61, (Geneva: UNHCR Research Unit, 2002).
35. Donor states opposed the UNHCR being able to raise its own funds for a variety of operational purposes. European states wanted to put all of their funds, including foreign aid, into the local integration of their refugees. France, in particular, made every effort to create problems for the UNHCR as their French UN Representative, Robert Rochefort, had aspired to be the Deputy High Commissioner, with a US representative as High Commissioner. Meanwhile, the United States had set up the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM, now the International Organisation for Migration [IOM]) which managed the migration of refugees and labour migrants; was fully funded and operated by the United States outside of the UN; and only democratic nations friendly to the US were on the Board. ICEM was directly concerned with those fleeing communist East Europe. As a result, the US would not fund the UNHCR. See, Holborn, above n. 13, 387
36. Loescher Beyond Charity: International Cooperation and the Global Refugee Crisis (Oxford University Press, 1993), 62-63
37. Loescher, above n. 10, 61-62, 67.
38. Loescher, above n. 10, 63.
39. Loescher, ibid., 64.
40. Soguk, States and Strangers: Refugees and Displacements of Statecraft 1999, 172.
41. Holborn, above n. 13, 324.
42. In 1953, the number of East Germans fleeing went from 15,000 in Dec. 1952 to 48,000 in Mar. 1953, due to fear of increasing Sovietisation of East Germany. Goedhart used his Ford funding to assist with temporary housing, assistance and voluntary agencies to deliver assistance. J. Read, The United Nations and Refugees - Changing Concepts (Geneva: Carnegie Endowment for Peace, 1962).
43. General Assembly Resolution 5388 (VI) and 832 (IX) respectively.
44. Loescher, above n. 10, 70.
45. For more on this, see, UNHCR, Memorandum by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the Report of the Colloquium on Legal Aspects of Refugee Problems held in April 1965 in Bellogio (Como), Italy 23 Sept. 1965, HCR/RS/31, Series 1, Fonds 11, 16/1/3 GEN, 5
46. Goodwin-Gill, above n. 6
47. P. Kourula, Broadening the Edges: Refugee Definition and International Protection Revisited (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1997).
48. Jackson, above n. 4, 102-106.
49. UNHCR, Memorandum, above n. 30
50. Kennedy, above n. 9
51. Koskenniemi, above n. 9.
52. UNGA, Colloquium on the Legal Aspects of Refugee Problems, Note by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, Thirteenth Session, 5 May 1965, A/AC.96/INFO.40, Annex 1, 1. Rockefeller Foundation Archives, Record Group 1.2, Series 200, Box 484, Folder 4143.
53. Holborn, above n. 13, 657-658, 676-677.
54. Jackson, above n. 4, 92.
55. Loescher, above n. 10, 93.
56. Loescher, ibid., 93-94
57. Holborn, above n. 13, 376. PRC was formally recognised as the legitimate state of China by the UN in 1974.
58. Jackson, above n. 4, 91.
59. The study was carried out by Dr Edvard Hambro, The Problem of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong (Leiden: A W Sijthoff, 1955).
60. Jackson, above n. 4, 90-91
61. Loescher, above n. 10, 93.
62. Jackson, above n. 4, 91.
63. Ibid., 92.
64. Ibid., 93.
65. Ibid.
66. Holborn, above n. 13, 391.
67. Loescher, above n. 10, 87.
68. Jackson, above n. 4, 119.
69. Loescher, above n. 10, 86.
70. Holborn, above n. 13, 394
71. Loescher, above n. 10, 86.
72. Loescher, ibid., 98.
73. Loescher, ibid., 97-99.
74. See Jackson, above n. 4, 120-142, for a more in-depth appraisal of the Algerian refugee status debate. Also, C. Ruthstrom-Ruin, Beyond Europe: The Globalization of Refugee Aid (Lund: Lund University Press, 1993).
75. The resolution put forward by Tunisia and Morocco for UNHCR assistance due to the urgency of the Algerian refugee problem was, interestingly, supported by Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, Cambodia, Turkey, Japan, United Arab Republic, USSR, Albania, Liberia, Ethiopia, Haiti and Indonesia. Jackson, above n. 4, 126-127.
76. Loescher, above n. 10, 97-98.
77. Loescher, ibid., 98.
78. Jackson, above n. 4, 120-142
79. Soguk, above n. 25, 173
80. Loescher, above n. 10, 98-101, 105-110.
81. Loescher, above n. 10, 106.
82. Soguk, above n. 25, 173
83. Loescher, above n. 10, 106.
84. Jackson, above n. 4, 104. It needs to be noted that this was assistance only - not protection.
85. For an in-depth appraisal of the legal status and assistance provided to these entire refugee groups, see, UNHCR, Memorandum, above n. 30
86. Holborn, above n. 13, 957-1386.
87. High Commissioner Schnyder started emphasising that the 'new refugees' needed material assistance, as opposed to the 'old refugees', almost immediately. As a result, legal protection for refugees in Africa was, obviously, not considered by Schnyder as the solution to the 'new refugees'. See, UNGA, Colloquium, above n. 33
88. Jackson, above n. 4, 103-104.
89. This has been repeatedly argued by Zolberg, et al., above n. 16
90. J. Hathaway, 'Reconceiving Refugee Law as Human Rights Protection' (1991) 4 JRS 113-131
91. B. S. Chimni, 'The Geopolitcs of Refugee Studies: A View from the South' (1998) 11 JRS 350-374
92. Soguk, above n. 25
93. Loescher, above n. 10.
94. Holborn, above n. 13, 657.
95. Holborn, ibid., 658.
96. UNHCR, Explanatory Note, above n. 1
97. see also, Loescher, above n. 10, 'Chapter Five: Expansion into Africa under Schnyder'.
98. UNHCR, Deputy High Commissioner to J. Asscher, Interoffice Memorandum: 1951 Convention, 21 Mar. 1956, Folio 535, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, Fonds 11. Overtures to individual Asian states were also made regarding accession, so as to encourage other Asian states: UNHCR, Deputy High Commissioner to Minister for Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, Correspondence, 3 Nov. 1959, Folio 849, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, Fonds 11, 2
99. UNHCR, Deputy High Commissioner to Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Federation of Malaya, Correspondence, 4 Nov. 1959, Folio 852, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, Fonds 11, 2.
100. UNGA, Report on the Fourteenth Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, Official Records, Twentieth Session, 25 Oct. - 2 Nov. 1965, 23.
101. Ibid., 24.
102. UNHCR, Visit of Dr Urrutia to Iegal Division on 13 April 1966, 18 Apr. 1966, Folio 1602, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, Fonds 11, 2; Soguk, above n. 25, 174; Loescher, above n. 10, 125.
103. Loescher, ibid., 124-26.
104. Loescher, ibid., 105-6.
105. UNHCR, 1. C. Jackson to The Representative, UNHCR Branch Office for Nepal, Accession by Nepal to the 1951 Convention and the Protocol, 16 Sept. 1967, Folio 4741, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, Fonds 11
106. UNHCR, W. K. McCoy to UNHCR Geneva, Memorandum: Malaysia - Attitude to Convention, 15 Mar. 1969, folio 1829, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, fonds 11
107. UNHCR, W. K. McCoy to UNHCR Geneva, Memorandum: Singapore - Attitude to Convention, 24 Mar. 1969, Folio 1831, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, Fonds 11
108. UNHCR, W. K. McCoy to UNHCR Geneva, Memorandum: Indonesia - Attitude to Convention, 6 May 1969, Folio 1839, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, Fonds 11
109. UNHCR, Ejahn to Mr Goundian, Asian African Committee, 6 Feb. 1970, Folio 1879, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, Fonds 11, 2.
110. UNHCR, High Commissioner Schnycler to Mr John Goormaghtigh, Correspondence, 20 July 1964, Folio 16, 16/1/3 GEN, Series 1, Fonds 11, 1.
111. UNHCR, Visit of Dr Urrutia, above n. 68.
112. UNHCR, Correspondence, above n. 72, 2.
113. UNHCR, Explanatory Note, above n. 1, 2.
114. Ibid.
115. UNHCR, Correspondence, above n. 72, 2.
116. Ibid.
117. Mr Lawrence Finkelstein to Mr Boyd Compton, Memorandum: Proposed Colloquium, on Legal Status of Refugees, 21 Oct. 1964, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, above n. 33, 2.
118. UNGA, Colloquium, above n. 33, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, ibid.
119. UNGA, ibid., Rockefeller Foundation Archives, ibid., 2-4.
120. UNHCR, Memorandum, above n. 7, 2.
121. UNGA, above n. 17.
122. UNGA, Summary Records of the 141st to the 152nd Meetings held from 31 October to 8 November 1966, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, Sixteenth Session, A/AC.96/SR. 141-152, 71.
123. However, Hathaway argues that the attempt to 'universalise' the 1951 Convention through the 1967 Protocol did not lead to a substantive review of the definition. Hathaway, above n. 16.
124. Arguments supporting the 1967 Protocol as being the hallmark of the 1951 Convention's universalisation are: Holborn, above n. 13, 179
125. Soguk, above n. 25, 173-174
126. Loescher, above n. 10, 124-125. Goodwin-Gill expresses doubt in general about the necessity of the separate instrument: Goodwin-Gill, above n. 6, 297.
127. UNGA, above n. 17
128. Hathaway, above n. 16.
129. Holborn, above n. 13, 181.
130. Holborn, ibid., 180.
131. UNGA, Colloquium, above n. 33, Rockefeller Foundation Archives, above n. 33, 2.
132. UNHCR, Memorandum, above n. 30, 2.
133. Holborn, above n. 13, 181.
134. UNHCR, Visit of Dr Urrutia, above n. 68.
135. Loescher, above n. 10, 124-25.
136. UNHCR, Visit of Dr Urrutia, above n. 68.
137. UNHCR, Correspondence, above n. 72, 2.
138. Ibid.
139. UNHCR, Memorandum, above n. 30, 2
140. UNHCR, Visit of Dr Urrutia, above n. 68.
141. UNHCR, Memorandum, ibid., 3.
142. Ibid.
143. Ibid.
144. Ibid., 5.
145. Ibid. Emphasis added.
146. UNHCR, Visit of Dr Urrutia, above n. 68
147. Holborn, above n. 13, 181.
148. Holborn, ibid., 180-186
149. Loescher, above n. 10, 122-26.
150. Holborn, ibid., 182.
151. UNGA, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Part Two: Report on the Sixteenth Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme from 31 October - 8 November 1966, Official Records of Twenty-First Session, Supplement No. 11 (A/6311/ Rev.1), 19.
152. Holborn, above n. 13, 180.
153. UNGA, above n. 106, 18.
154. Ibid.
155. Ibid.
156. UNGA, Official Records of the Third Committee, Twenty-First Session, 1449th Meeting, 6 Dec. 1966, 436.
157. Ibid., 437.
158. Ibid.
159. Ibid.
160. Ibid., 440.
161. Ibid.
162. UNGA, Official Records of the Third Committee, Twenty-First Session, 1450th Meeting, 7 Dec. 1966, 446.
163. Ibid., 447.
164. Ibid., 446.
165. Ibid.
166. UNHCR, Memorandum, above n. 30, 2-4.
167. Chatelard, above n. 21.
168. Schmeidl, above n. 19; McGuiness, above n. 20
169. UNHCR, Memorandum, above n. 30, 5.
170. Hathaway, above n. 16.
171. For further discussion of this, see, F. V. Kratochwil, Rules, Norms, and Decisions: On the Conditions of Practical and Legal Reasoning in International Relations and Domestic Affairs, Cambridge Studies in International Relations (No. 2), (Cambridge University Press, 1989).
172. F. V. Kratochwil, 'How do Norms Matter?', in M. Byers, (ed.), The Role of Law in International Politics, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 35-68, 45.
173. UNGA, above n. 117, 446-447.