Whom Should We Protect? Law, Morality, and the Search for Durable Solutions

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Panelists:

George Biddle
Program Chair, International Rescue Committee; Co-Chair, International Crisis Group

Robert DeVecchi
President Emeritus, International Rescue Committee; Adjunct Senior Fellow, Refugees and the Displaced, Council on Foreign Relations

Roger Fisher
Director, Harvard Negotiation Project; Author, Coping With International Conflict: A Systematic Approach to International Negotiation

John Fredriksson
Associate Executive Director, U.S. Committee for Refugees

Binaifer Nowrojee
Counsel, Refugees and Internally Displaced Peoples, Human Rights Watch

Maryam Shahin
Independent Palestinian Journalist; Founder, Lifeline; Mid Career Fellow, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Myron Weiner
Chair, External Research Advisory Committee, UNHCR; Author, The Global Migration Crisis: Challenge to States and Human Rights

Moderators:
Stephen Gonah and Bree Mawhorter
EPIIC Colloquium

Interlocutor:
Amb. Jonathan Moore
Former U.S. Coordinator, Ambassador-at-Large for Refugee Affairs; Former Director, The Refugee Programs Bureau, U.S. Department of State

For almost fifty years, the international community has been concerned with the issue of refugees. The period during and following the Second World War witnessed the migration of European populations on an unprecedented scale. These migrants, forced by the war to flee from their countries, found themselves without the protection of their own or any other country. It was in this context that the United Nations drafted and adopted the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees on 28 July 1951. The convention defined a refugee as any person

"who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, or owing to such fear is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it."

Persons recognized as refugees were thereafter, eligible for international protection and assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the agency that was established for that purpose.

In recent years, questions have been raised regarding the grounds for which a person may seek international protection. Do race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion encompass all the reasons for which a person may be persecuted and consequently seek refuge abroad? What other options are left to someone who is persecuted in his/her own country?

There exist categories of persons who suffer persecution in their country of origin for the above-mentioned reasons but who have not crossed an international border. These Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) may find themselves in situations similar to those of refugees, but the stipulation in the refugee definition that they must be outside the country of their nationality precludes them from being accorded international protection and assistance. This gap in providing protection to the millions of IDPs has been the subject of international debate; and the issue is under consideration in the UN Commission on Human Rights and has been receiving consideration from Dr. Francis M. Deng, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons.

Of further concern within the context of this symposium are the recent moves by countries to restrict the rights accorded under the 1951 Convention to persons fleeing persecution. Temporary protected status has entered the lexicon, and people are being returned to areas where the situation is still unstable. Haitians attempting to seek asylum in the United States have been interdicted on the high seas. One sees the refoulement of refugees in the Great Lakes region of Africa and the attendant results. What is the future trend being witnessed in these actions?

The traditional solutions provided by the international community to the refugee problem have been repatriation, resettlement and local integration: are these still the only viable ones? UNHCR has an international mandate to provide protection to refugees; what consideration is given to the human rights of refugees within this mandate?

UNHCR is currently undergoing an internal review of its operations, priorities and organizational structure under the Plan of Action. The changes contemplated may have the result of diluting the effectiveness of the Division of International Protection. This could have the effect of eroding UNHCR's central and unique protection mandate. What will be the future interplay of law, human rights, and durable solutions in contending with refugees and IDPs?