Confronted with this wide range of challenges, and considering them to be far more serious today than they were at any time since the establishment of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, some commentators have suggested that the international refugee protection regime is breaking down and have even predicted its imminent demise.

Such a conclusion would be mistaken for three reasons. First, it would be wrong to believe that there was ever a 'golden age of asylum' in which states and other actors unfailingly respected the notions of asylum and refugee protection. Indeed, many if not all of the protection problems now encountered by refugees and asylum seekers, including refoulement, the closure of borders, interception at sea, detention and restricted rights have a host of historical precedents.

Second, while there is certainly a need to focus on the challenges that exist in relation to asylum and refugee protection, there is also a need to acknowledge the continuing achievements of the refugee protection regime. In the past five years alone, millions of refugees and asylum seekers throughout the world have been able to escape from life-threatening circumstances in their own country, to benefit from international protection and to find a lasting solution to their plight, whether by means of voluntary repatriation, local integration in their country of asylum or resettlement in a third country.

Third, while governments have sometimes responded to their economic, political and security concerns by acting in a manner that has negative consequences for refugees and asylum seekers, they have also acknowledged the need for a multilateral response to refugee problems. They have reaffirmed their commitment to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and have endorsed an agenda that provides them with a coherent set of protection goals, activities and indicators.

In 2001, UNHCR initiated the Global Consultations on International Protection. This process evolved around three 'tracks', with the overall goal of reinvigorating the refugee-protection framework. The first track sought to strengthen the commitment of states to respect the centrality of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol in the international refugee protection system. The second track provided a forum to take stock of developments in refugee law and to clarify disputed notions through a series of expert discussions on the interpretation of the Convention and its Protocol.[25] The third track was structured around a number of protection policy matters to address contemporary challenges.[26]

The commitment to refugee protection and the relevance of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol were reaffirmed in December 2001 at the end of the first track of the Global Consultations by the adoption of the Declaration of States Parties to the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.[27] The Declaration was an important achievement, not only because it was the first statement of its type in the 50-year history of the Convention, but more significantly because it was issued at a time when some governments had started to ask whether the Convention was relevant to current realities. The Declaration reaffirmed the contemporary relevance of the Convention and underscored the importance of the legal norms on which it is based.

The Global Consultations tried to resolve areas of inconsistent interpretation and state practice. The process attempted to identify new approaches that would bridge gaps in refugee protection in a cooperative manner to ensure that burdens and responsibilities were more equitably shared. Following the Consultations, and in order to provide for the implementation of the 2001 Declaration, the Agenda for Protection was adopted to guide action by UNHCR, states, NGOs and other partners in furthering protection objectives in the years ahead.[28]

The Agenda for Protection provides a framework for fulfilling the commitments reaffirmed by states in the Declaration. It sets out six inter-related goals and details actions for achieving them. The goals focus on issues that are inadequately covered by the Convention. These include, for example, the issue of refugee registration, the protection of refugee women and children, protection responses in situations of mass influx and expanded opportunities for durable solutions.

Since the conclusion of the Global Consultations and establishment of the Agenda for Protection, new efforts have been made to mobilize support for asylum and refugee protection at the regional level. In 2003, for example, a memorandum of understanding was signed by UNHCR and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights,[29] aimed at strengthening cooperation between the parties in order to promote and protect more effectively the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers, returnees and other persons of concern. Another recent initiative is the Regional Parliamentary Conference on Refugees in Africa: the Challenges of Protection and Solutions, held in Cotonou (Benin) in June 2004. The conference was attended by parliamentarians of 26 African countries and adopted a Declaration and a Programme of Action.[30] This Programme of Action is aimed at implementing the commitments contained in the Declaration by developing concrete objectives and strategies to support African parliaments in their work in favour of protecting refugees and finding durable solutions.

In the Latin American context, representatives of 18 countries in the region gathered in Mexico City in November 2004 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees. The meeting resulted in the adoption of the Mexico Declaration and Plan of Action to Strengthen the International Protection of Refugees in Latin America.[31] The Declaration reaffirms the fundamental right to seek and receive asylum, the enduring validity of the principles and norms contained in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and the importance of using the norms and principles of other international instruments of humanitarian and human rights law to strengthen international protection. The Declaration also recognizes the non-derogative nature of the principle of non-refoulement, including non-rejection at the border, and the commitment of Latin American countries to keep their borders open to those in need of international protection.

The Mexico Plan of Action is intended to address the region's principal protection challenges. These include the development of asylum systems, the strengthening of protection capacities among governments and NGOs, and the plight of refugees who have settled in urban centres and are struggling to attain self-sufficiency. The Plan proposes concrete projects ranging from research and doctrinal development of international refugee law to institutional capacity building, as well as programmes on durable solutions promoting the self-reliance and local integration of refugees.

One of UNHCR's primary concerns over the past five years has been to ensure that the commitments made in the Declaration of States Parties to the 1951 Convention and or its 1967 Protocol and Agenda for Protection are effectively operationalized. Significant improvements have been made, for example, in the way that refugees and asylum seekers are registered and provided with documents that attest to their status. Such efforts have helped to protect them from refoulement and arbitrary detention, have improved access to assistance and family reunification and contributed to the search for durable solutions, especially voluntary repatriation and resettlement.

In addition, a variety of initiatives have been taken to meet the protection needs of particular refugee groups, including women, children, victims of sexual and gender-based violence and those affected by HIV/AIDS. With regard to refugee children, for example, UNHCR has established counselling programmes that provide younger refugees with a better understanding of their rights, thereby helping to protect them against military recruitment, forced labour and sexual exploitation. Significant attention has also been given to the provision of primary and secondary education, especially for refugee girls, who are generally under-represented at school.

Challenges to protection

Refugee protection and globalization

Notes

25. The outcomes of the 'second track' are published in E. Feller, V. Türk, F. Nicholson (eds) Refugee Protection in International Law. UNHCR's Global Consultations on International Protection, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003.

26. The papers produced within the 'third track' are published in Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 2/3, October 2003.

27. Adopted on 13 December 2001 in Geneva at the Ministerial Meeting of States Parties to the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, UNHCR Doc. HCR/MMSP/2001/09 16 January 2002.

28. UNHCR, Agenda for Protection, UN Doc. A/AC.96/965/Add.1, 26 June 2002.

29. Memorandum of Understanding between the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, published in the Sixteenth Annual Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights 2002-2003, Annex IV, pp. 25-9.

30. UNHCR, ICRC, APU, and IPU, Refugees in Africa: The Challenges of Protection and Solutions, 2004, p. 1-23.

31. Mexico Declaration and Plan of Action to Strengthen the International Protection of Refugees in Latin America, Mexico City, 16 November 2004.