International Protection of Refugees

Protection of Refugees Under International Humanitarian Law

Why do we need to help refugees? The protection for refugees stems from three areas of international law: International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights Law and Refugee Law. These areas of law are both based in international treaty law, ratified, and adopted into national law and in customary law. In this regard, the United States has a responsibility to provide protections for refugees.

Basically, international humanitarian law provides the standards for the protection of persons and the conduct in armed conflict. While human rights law obliges standards that governments must abide by in their treatment of persons both in peace-time and war. International refugee law focuses specifically on protecting persons, who have fled their country due to persecution or other serious violations of human rights or armed conflict.

During a conflict, the protection of civilians is first and foremost the duty of states. It is because states are sometimes unwilling or unable to comply with their obligations under international law that humanitarian and human rights organizations are called on to provide protections. Therefore, international organizations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), NGOs, intergovernmental organizations such as the UN have mandates by the international community to provide specific protections and assistance tasks during conflict. The United Nations and NGOs increasingly rely on international humanitarian law to advocate on behalf of civilians affected by armed conflict.

International humanitarian law comprises international treaties, beginning with the 1864 Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field. The ICRC grew out of the 1864 Geneva Convention. The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977 provide the legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war, including of soldiers, of prisoners, and civilians fleeing. After the civil war, Clara Barton learned about the ICRC, which grew out of the Geneva Convention of 1864. Clara Barton campaigned for the U.S. to adopt the Geneva Convention and in 1881 she founded the American National Red Cross which helped to secure the ratification of the Geneva Convention in the U.S.

Protection of Refugees Under International Human Rights Laws

All people, including those with the status as refugee, asylum seekers, internally displaced, or migrant, have rights and protections under international human rights laws. These protections extend fundamentally through the International Bill of Rights, which consist of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted in 1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966) with its two Optional Protocols and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966). The two covenants entered into force in 1976.

International Refugee Law

Refugees are protected under international law, per se. The full range of international humanitarian and human rights law is [supposedly] equally applicable to refugees, regardless of the country in which they are seeking refugee status. The main international instruments are the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.

International refugee law applies to individuals who have crossed an international border and are at risk or victims of persecution in their country of origin. International refugee law prohibits the forcible return of a refugee to his or her country of origin (the principle of non-refoulement) and provides basic human rights guarantees during their stay in the country of asylum. Individuals who are not defined as “refugees” may be forced to leave their homes for reasons other than “a well-founded fear of persecution,” such as resource scarcity and extreme weather events.