• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, January 30, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

International Community Needs Global Plan to Share Responsibility for Refugees

Marjoleine Zieck by Marjoleine Zieck
07/04/18
in Opinion
Migrants on a boat at sea

Charities have been chartering boats to rescue migrants who face very difficult conditions in Libya as they attempt to reach Europe. Photo: Louisa Gouliamaki, AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The annual Global Trends Forced Displacement report, that was issued by the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), indicates that the number of people who are forcibly displaced from their homes reached 68.5 million at the end of last year.

Almost 40 percent (25.4 million) of these people crossed an international border, qualifying them as refugees. The remaining 60 percent (40 million) did not leave their country and are internally displaced persons (IDPs). Although the factual situation between refugees and IDPs may in many ways be identical, their legal position is vastly different.

IDPs remain within the jurisdiction of their country of origin or habitual residence. Although human rights and guiding principles on internal displacement apply to IDPs, they have to be implemented by the very states that either caused their displacement or failed to prevent it, which bodes ill for the improvement of their plight. The question is whether refugees fare better in this respect. In theory, definitely yes. Refugees may benefit from the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, ratified by three-quarters of all states worldwide. In practice, however, the picture is less rosy.

When it comes to refugees, a sense of “crisis” seems to prevail, leading to bad decisions that undermine the effectiveness of the Convention and Protocol to the detriment of their beneficiaries. The crisis rhetoric appears to find its origin in Europe and dates from 2015 when 1 million predominantly Syrian refugees made their way to the continent. This number caught Europe unaware and led to many states hastily erecting fences – over 800 miles since 2015 – intending to denying refugees access to their territories, and in 2016, to the infamous E.U.-Turkey deal. This deal ensures that refugees are contained in Turkey and thus remain outside of the E.U. Even though the numbers of refugees trying to access Europe has decreased since 2015, the E.U. still finds itself in crisis mode, feverishly organizing migration summits.

Crisis of Governance

Arguably, there is a crisis, but it is not one of numbers. After all, even at the 2015 peak, the total influx of refugees in the E.U. amounted to much less than 1 percent of Europe’s population. The crisis is instead one of governance: a lack of solidarity where Italy and Greece are by virtue of the Dublin III Regulation bound to process the claims of all those who arrive by boat; and a lack of solidarity regarding the international community which manifests itself in shady deals with countries like Libya – comparable new deals with North African states appear to be in the offing – that all gear to prevent triggering obligations under the Convention and Protocol. Thus setting a bad example for the rest of the world.

The majority of refugees are, however, hosted outside of the E.U. Many millions are hosted by states that did not even ratify the Convention and Protocol, like Pakistan, Lebanon, and Jordan. Turkey hosts 3.5 million Syrian refugees, even though its obligations under the Convention and Protocol are confined to European refugees. In general, 85 percent of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing states: it is they who bear the brunt and have been doing so for decades.

So, the problem appears to be the uneven distribution of responsibilities, but this is nothing new. The drafters of the 1951 Convention were well aware of the fact that the grant of asylum could result in unduly heavy burdens on certain countries. This recognition was inserted in the preamble of the Convention, along with the observation that international cooperation would be required to address this imbalance. However, this observation was not supplemented by a binding obligation to share in the Convention. As a result, the distribution of responsibilities is governed by geographical proximity.

Time to Share Responsibility

It is time the omission to address sharing responsibility equitably is taken up. The perfect venue for this would be the UNHCR Global Compact on Refugees that will be completed in the fall of 2018 in the form of a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and corresponding program of action.

The Global Compact originates in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted by all 193 U.N. member states in 2016. In the declaration, states underlined the centrality of international cooperation to the refugee protection regime, recognized “the burdens that large movements of refugees place on national resources, especially in the case of developing countries,” and committed themselves to a “more equitable sharing of the burden and responsibility for hosting and supporting the world’s refugees.”

The consensus was promising, but unfortunately it was not coupled to a decision to insert new obligations in the Global Compact. In its roadmap towards the Global Compact, UNHCR indicated that the program of action “will not seek to impose additional obligations on states but will rather seek to outline how existing obligations can best be fulfilled and – importantly – how the responsibility for performing those obligations can be more equitably shared.”

The latest draft emphasizes that “good faith” and “common trust” are the basis for equitable sharing. Even in the rather closely-knit E.U., in which member states could reasonably be expected to demonstrate solidarity towards fellow members, the decision to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers within Italy and Greece failed, resulting in the transfer of a mere 30,000 asylum seekers to other E.U. states. It induced Italy’s newly constituted populist government (“Italians first” had been the election slogan) to enforce greater solidarity by refusing to dock the Aquarius carrying 629 migrants who had been rescued at sea.

Sharing the responsibility for 28.5 million refugees among 193 states in an equitable manner is the challenge. This requires good governance and, in particular, a global plan backed by binding commitments rather than mere good faith and common trust.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
ShareTweet
Marjoleine Zieck

Marjoleine Zieck

Professor of International Refugee Law at the University of Amsterdam

Related Posts

Mario Draghi
Business

EU Leaders Clash Over How to Tackle Energy Prices

by Staff Writer
October 20, 2022
Olaf Scholz
Business

Germany Defends Massive Energy Plan Against EU Critics

by Staff Writer
October 4, 2022
EU flags
World

Europe Tries to Save Energy Ahead of Winter in Face of Ukraine War

by Staff Writer
August 26, 2022
EU flags
World

EU Slaps Sanctions on Syrians Accused of Recruiting Mercenaries for Russia

by Staff Writer
July 21, 2022
gold bars
Business

European Union to Target Russian Gold With New Sanctions

by Staff Writer
July 15, 2022
Eurozone
Business

Eurozone Stocks Sink as Inflation Accelerates to Record High

by Staff Writer
May 31, 2022
Next Post
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas

Colombian Rights Activist Killed Every 3 Days, Says Ombudsman

Indian nuns from the Catholic Order of the Missionaries of Charity

Mother Teresa's Charity Sold Babies, Indian Police Say

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

Israeli security forces in Jerusalem

Palestinian Gunman Kills 7 in East Jerusalem Synagogue Attack

January 30, 2023
The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Race on To Replace Ardern as New Zealand Prime Minister

January 20, 2023
Pfizer logo and vaccines

Pfizer to Sell More Drugs at Cost to Poor Nations

January 18, 2023
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal

At Least 67 Killed in Nepal Plane Crash

January 16, 2023

Opinion

George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

August 17, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post