May25
The Free Movement of Persons within the African Union and Refugee Protection
May 25, 2020
On January 29, 2018, the African Union’s (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government adopted the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to the Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment (the Protocol). It aims, among other things, to create a single African market for people, goods, services and capital, much like that in the European Union (EU). While cognizant of the opportunities presented by the Protocol, this article focuses on its risks to refugee protection, with a view to stimulating discussion in this regard prior to entry into force.
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Jan6
Tacit Complicity of Non-Protection in the Maghreb: “As long as my neighbor does not protect refugees, I’ll do the same”
January 6, 2020
This Article discusses the tragedy that refugees in the Maghreb region face because the Maghreb states have chosen to hide behind security concerns instead of addressing their plight. The lack of national systems of asylum combined with the regional political instability and the absence of a regional model that can be transposed onto the individual countries aggravates the situation of refugees. As long as the Maghreb states continue to act (or rather, fail to act) on the logic that “as long as my neighbor does not protect them, I'll do the same thing,” refugees will continue to suffer in these host countries.
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Nov5
A Promise as a Right
November 5, 2019
Is a refugee entitled to the same disability benefits generally as Korean nationals based on the Refugee Convention Article 24 and the Refugee Act of Korea Articles 30 and 31, without requiring further individual legislation? This was the question the Busan District and High Courts of South Korea faced in Baloch Meer Balach Muhammad Zai v. Busan-Gwangyeogsi Sasang-gucheongjang (“Meer”). In this case, the courts grappled with whether refugees were entitled to disability benefits and how to define that right, making the first major decision on refugee rights in Korea.
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Sep13
Acquiescing in Refoulement: This week’s U.S. Supreme Court’s decision
September 13, 2019
Professor James C. Hathaway addresses the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Attorney General v. East Bay Sanctuary, the case pertaining to the Trump Administration's attempt to unilaterally issue a "safe third country" rule for asylum seekers.
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Aug28
Compulsory Secondary Movement and Article 32 of the Refugee Convention
August 28, 2019
“Safe third countries” policies (better termed compulsory secondary movement policies) have been gaining popularity since the 1990s. Are they in compliance with Article 32 to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (“the Convention”), which sets limits on contracting states’ power to deport refugees to non-persecutory countries?
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Jun2
Nationality as an Element of the Refugee Definition and the Unsettled Issues of ‘Inchoate Nationality’ and ‘Effective Nationality’
June 2, 2019
This is the second of a two-part article dealing with the issues of ‘inchoate nationality’ and ‘effective nationality’ in the context of determination of nationality as an element of the refugee definition.
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Oct19
Climate change and international refugee law: A predicament approach
October 19, 2018
October 19, 2018 Lauren Nishimura RefLaw, Editorial Advisory Panel Oxford University, Doctoral Candidate Climate change is a reality, producing both extreme weather events like cyclones and storms and slower processes...
Read More“Regional Disembarkation Platforms” and “Controlled Centres”: Lifting The Drawbridge, Reaching out Across The Mediterranean, or Going Nowhere?
European Union, September 14, 2018
Assuming that the EU and the EUMS are committed to respecting international and EU law, and that they don’t plan to upend the institutional structure of the CEAS by establishing common processing centres offshore, no “game changers” are within easy reach. As shown, Regional Disembarkation Platforms (RDPs) are highly unlikely to add anything of substance to the EU’s already extensive “externalization toolbox.” Controlled Centres (CCs) in EUMS, for their part, are unlikely to ever take off absent predictable solidarity arrangements (as opposed to: fuzzy solidarity promises). This supposed exit from Europe’s solidarity conundrum leads, in fact, back around to it.
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Aug31
The Spanish-Moroccan border: Forgotten refugee zone
August 31, 2018
This article analyzes the practices of Spain and Morocco towards refugees near the Hispano-Moroccan borders and aims to better understand not only the illegality of “hot returns” and repression toward refugees, but also the ways in which the European Union (“EU”) accomplishes and perpetuates the externalization of its borders to North Africa.
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Jun16
Refugee Status Determination by South Pacific Island Countries: Legal Overview, Recent Developments, and a Brief Critique
June 16, 2018
South Pacific island countries should carefully consider the legal and ethical issues relating to Australia’s practice of offshore asylum processing and the role they play in this practice.
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