The Refugee in International Law

The status of the refugee in international law, and of everyone entitled to protection, has ever been precarious, not least in times of heightened and heated debate: people have always moved in search of safety, and they always will. In this completely revised and updated edition, the authors cast new light on the refugee definition, the meaning of persecution, including with regard to gender and sexual orientation, and the protection due to refugees and those affected by statelessness or disasters. They review the fundamental principle of non-refoulement as a restraint on the conduct of States, even as States themselves seek new ways to prevent the arrival of those in search of refuge.

Related principles of protection—non-discrimination, due process, rescue at sea, and solutions— are analysed in light of the actual practice of States, UNHCR, and treaty-monitoring bodies. The authors closely examine relevant international standards, and the role of UNHCR, States, and civil society, in providing protection, contributing to the development of international refugee law, and promoting solutions. New chapters focus on the evolving rules on nationality, statelessness, and displacement due to disasters and climate change.

This expanded edition factors in the challenges posed by the movement of people across land and sea in search of refuge, and their interception, reception, and later treatment. The overall aim remains the same as in previous editions: to provide a sound basis for protection in international law, taking full account of State and community interests and recognizing the need to bridge gaps in the regime which now has 100 years of law and practice behind it.

Guy Goodwin-Gill, Emeritus Professor of International Refugee Law, University of Oxford, ,Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor of Law and Director of the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW,

Professor Guy S. Goodwin Gill is Emeritus Professor of International Refugee Law at the University of Oxford. he was formerly Professor of Asylum Law at the University of Amsterdam, served as a Legal Adviser in the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 1976-1988, and was President of the Media Appeals Board of Kosovo from 2000-2003. He is the Founding Editor of the International Journal of Refugee Law and has written extensively on refugees, migration, international organizations, elections, democratization, and child soldiers.

Jane McAdam is Scientia Professor of Law and Director of the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW, and the leader of the UNSW Grand Challenge on Refugees & Migrants. Professor McAdam is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, a Research Associate at Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre, an Associated Senior Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway, and a Senior Research Associate of the Refugee Law Initiative in London, and was a non-resident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at The Brookings Institution, Washington DC from 2012-16. In 2017-18, she will be a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program.

1. Introduction: The Refugee in International Law and the Legal Aspects of Forced Migration
Part 1: Refugees and International Protection
2. Refugees Defined and Described
3. Determination of Refugee Status: Analysis and Application
4. Loss and Denial of Refugee Status and its Benefits
Part 2: Asylum
5. Non-Refoulement in the 1951 Convention
6. Protection under Human Rights and General International Law
7. The Concept of Asylum
Part 3: International Protection
8. International Institutional Protection
9. Protection and Solutions
10. Treaty Standards and their Implementation in National Law
Part 4: 'Forced Migration' and Related Protection Needs
11. Internally Displaced Persons
12. Statelessness and Stateless Persons
13. Displacement related to Disasters and/or the Impact of Climate Change