POLI 328 Lecture 1: 1 Forced Migration - Refugees and Asylum Seekers

• School: UBC
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLI 328
• Professor: Antje Ellermann

Document Summary

Present-day context: danish minister (rasmussen) guardian article. Looking to revise un geneva convention (refugees) revise asylum obligations, such that refugees may be sent back to transit countries (e. g. turkey) Outside of country of origin due to country"s inability to ensure fundamental human rights (liberty, security, subsistence) Fleeing civil, political rights violations, socioeconomic rights deprivations. 1948: un international refugee organization iro (temp) 1951: un high commissioner for refugees unhcr (permanent) technically" refers to one individual, but more commonly refers to the entire institution/office/bureaucracy. 1951: geneva convention united nations convention relating to the status of refugees. Euro-centric limitations: initial definition was intended to distribute european refugee burden w/o binding obligation (james hathaway) 1967: protocol relating to the status of refugees rescinded the convention"s spatial and temporal restrictions, but did not expand substantive limits. Substantive limits: privileges civil and political rights over other human rights (was aimed at ideology and religion, e. g. fascism/communism)