Refugee Treaty and Legislation Dashboard
Refugee Treaty and Legislation Dashboard
The Refugee Treaty and Legislation Dashboard (RTLD) is an interactive dashboard providing fundamental information on the global legal protection environment for refugees. It compiles data on refugee treaties and asylum legislation from around the world. In the future, the RTLD aims to also include information on the legal protection environment for internally displaced and stateless persons.
The RTLD is a component of UNHCR’s Rights Mapping and Analysis Platform (RiMAP). The objective of RiMAP is to collect data to provide a better understanding of the rights forcibly displaced and statelessness persons can access in countries where they live. RiMAP is a platform that maps and analyses laws and policies relating to the protection and rights of asylum-seekers and refugees.
What information can be found in the Refugee Treaty and Legislation Dashboard?
The RTLD provides an overview of States party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and/or its 1967 Protocol and of other territories where these instruments apply. The dashboard also provides information on reservations maintained by States party to these instruments, as well as on reservations that have been withdrawn in the past.
Regional refugee instruments complement the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol. They have particularly built upon the refugee definition provided in the two global instruments. The RTLD shows States that have ratified the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa.
Although not a legally binding document, the RTLD also shows countries in the Americas that have incorporated the broader refugee definition used in the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees into their national laws, either in its entirety or with some modifications.
In addition, the RTLD provides basic information on the national legal framework relating to the protection of refugees. This includes primary laws such as a country's asylum, refugee, (im)migration and foreigners or aliens’ laws that aim to incorporate international and regional refugee law instruments into the national legal framework or otherwise regulate asylum or international protection. This includes secondary instruments such as legislative, executive or judicial instruments that are legally binding and regulate refugee protection issues within States.
The information on national legal frameworks links directly with the legislation collection in Refworld, UNHCR’s Global Law and Policy Database.
Why does UNHCR collect law and policy data?
UNHCR's Statute, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1976 Protocol and the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific aspects of Refugees provide UNHCR with a mandate to promote the adoption of international instruments for the protection of refugees and supervise their application. In exercising its supervisory responsibility, UNHCR systematically collects, analyses and visualizes important law and policy data.