Refugee Problem and the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees: The Dichotomy Between Political Realism and Normative Order

Abstract

The humanity experiences the most serious refugee problem since the Second World War. Despite the nature of the problem, states’ policies on refugee problem are far away from protecting refugees and from providing responsibility sharing mechanism, being contrary to the aims of 1951 Convention. 5 states alone host 83% of the world’s refugees, 9 out of 10 refugees are in developing states and not even 1% of the refugees could have access to durable solutions such as third country resettlement and local integration. While existing literature mainly focuses on the reasons of this crisis, this study questions how state parties can still shape their policies on refugee problem according to their behaviors, will and interests despite the existence of an international regime and a binding agreement. The study seeks to answer this question by examining 1951 Convention in terms of refugee definition, international protection and responsibility sharing. The study argues that the Convention with its structure of vague and relative statements facilitates current crisis by enabling states to shape their policies on refugee problem according to political realities.

Keywords

International Refugee Regime, 1951 Convention, Refugee, International Protection, Responsibility Sharing.

Citation

Güler, Arzu, “Refugee Problem and the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees: The Dichotomy Between Political Realism and Normative Order”, International Relations, Volume 13, Issue 51, 2016, pp. 41-61.

Affiliations

• Arzu GÜLER, Assistant Professor Dr., Department of International Relations, Adnan Menderes University