A legal history: The emergence of the African resettlement candidate in international refugee management

International Journal of Refugee Law

Volumn 22, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 20-47

  Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora ^a  

^a HARVARD LAW SCHOOL   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BUREAUCRACY; INTERNAL MIGRATION; POPULATION MIGRATION; REFUGEE; RESETTLEMENT POLICY;

AFRICA;

EID: 77954098033     PISSN: 09538186     EISSN: 14643715     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/ijrl/eeq002     Document Type: Article

References (136)

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3. G. Noll & J. Van Selm, 'Rediscovering Resettlement' (2003) 3 Migration Policy Institute.
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5. UNHCR Resettlement Handbook and Country Chapters (Division of International Protection, Nov. 2004) at 1, 2.
6. Art. 30 of the 1951 Convention concerns the issue of transference of currency and assets. Art. 33 addresses the issue of the mandatory versus voluntary nature of resettlement, stating that refugees are entitled to devise their own solutions. Hathaway, above n. 1, 967.
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8. th meeting: UN doc. EC/57/SC/CRP.15, 6 June 2006.
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13. A. Bruno, 'Refugee Admissions and Resettlement policy', CRS Report for Congress, 25 Jan. 2006.
14. Peter Browne asks how Africans came to dominate the Australian resettlement program when there had been no quota for Africans prior to 1980. See, P. Browne, 'The Longest Journey, Resettling Refugees from Africa' (UNSW Press, 2006).
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28. Loescher, above n. 17, 40.
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44. Chimni, above n. 4, 55.
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62. Lui, above n. 55, 116-17.
63. Holborn, above n. 18, 843.
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65. Holborn, above n. 18, 836.
66. For a description of this program, see, UNHCR, 'Addendum to the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees': UN doc. A/6011/Rev.1/Add.1, 1 Jan. 1966; UNHCR, 'Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees': UN doc. A/6311/Rev. 1, 1 Jan. 1966.
67. Holborn, above n. 18, 841.
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73. Holborn, above n. 18, 854.
74. UNHCR, above n. 66, A/6311/Rev.1, para. 59.
75. UNHCR, 'Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees': UN doc. A/8712, 1 Jan. 1973, para. 58.
76. Holborn, above n. 18, 944.
77. Oloko-Onyango, above n. 72.
78. See, Holborn, above n. 18, 945: Annex 35.3, for a description of procedures.
79. Oloko-Onyango, above n. 72.
80. UNHCR, above n. 75, para. 58.
81. UNHCR, 'Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees': UN doc. A/9012, 1 Jan. 1974, para. 56.
82. UNHCR, 'Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees': UN doc. A/9612, 1 Jan. 1975, para. 53.
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88. G. Kibreab, 'Why do the OECD Countries Discriminate against African Refugees in Their Resettlement Policies?'(Mimeo 1990), cited in Rogers, above n. 62.
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90. Although Browne suggests that this may be partially explained by the Balkan wars, he argues that the hesitance to accept Africans as resettlement candidates must also be understood in light of a legacy of racially based preferences. Browne, above n. 11, 21.
91. Rogge, above n. 87, 168-9.
92. Browne, above n. 11, 20.
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111. This article does not discuss the UNHCR Global Consultations on International Protection, which involved two years of expert meetings designed to reaffirm state commitments to the Refugee Convention, to resolve interpretative inconsistencies and to develop new tools and approaches to situations not adequately addressed by the 1951 Convention.
112. See, N. Kelley, 'International Refugee Protection Challenges and Opportunities' (2007) 19 IJRL 401-39.
113. Stoessinger, above n. 17, 114.
114. Holborn, above n. 18, 945.
115. According to the UNHCR-NGO Joint European Advocacy Statement on Resettlement (25 June 2008, Geneva), core policy documents include: UNHCR Resettlement Handbook 2007; UNHCR, 'Multilateral Framework of Understandings on Resettlement', UN doc. FORUM/2004/6, 16 Sept. 2004; UNHCR, 'Framework for Durable Solutions for Refugees and Persons of Concern', 1 May 2003; UNHCR, 'Refugee Resettlement. An International Handbook to Guide Reception and Integration', Sept. 2002.
116. The guidelines dealt with six vulnerable groups (women at risk; victims of torture/violence; physically or mentally disabled refugees; medical cases and family reunion, and a now abandoned category of 'longstayers'), but provided only limited guidance on the threshold for determining vulnerability, and how vulnerability might be linked to a 'best interest' consideration. Fredriksson and Mougne, above n. 41, 4, 24-5.
117. UNHCR Resettlement Section, above n. 40.
118. According the specification of the duty to cooperate with UNHCR and to accept its supervisory role under Article 35 of the 1951 Convention, and Article II of the 1967 Protocol, the state parties have agreed to take Executive Committee Conclusions, the UNHCR Handbook, UNHCR guidelines, and other UNHCR positions on matters of law into account when applying the 1951 Convention and its Protocol. Walter Kählin points out that 'taking into account' does not equal legally binding obligations, but that UNHCR documents should be regarded as authoritative statements whose disregard requires justification.
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120. UNHCR, 'Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons' (2007).
121. The 2002-3 levels (50,600 and 55,600 respectively) were the lowest number of resettlement arrivals since the early 1980s. UNHCR, above n. 7.
122. UNHCR, above n. 116.
123. The Preamble of the Refugee Convention opens by stating that '... the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights approved on 10 Dec. 1948 by the General Assembly have affirmed the principle that human beings shall enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms without discrimination'.
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126. Affirming the wider context of international human rights treaties, the then High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, stated in 1993 that: 'human rights concerns go to the essence of refugee movements, as well as to the precepts of refugee protection and the solution of refugee problems... Humanitarian assistance is much more than relief and logistics. It is essentially and above all about protection protection of victims of human rights and humanitarian violations'.
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129. His viewpoint is well illustrated by the ExCom conclusions of 1992, which 'Reaffirms the primary nature of the High Commissioner's protection responsibilities which are performed as a non-political, humanitarian and social function within the framework of international refugee law and applicable regional instruments, with due regard for human rights and humanitarian law...' UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusions No. 68 (XLIII) 1992, General Conclusion on International Protection.
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132. UNHCR, above n. 9.
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135. J. Van Selm, 'The Strategic Use of Resettlement: Changing the Face of Protection' (2003) 22 Refuge 39-48, at 40.