Roundtable: Race, Non-Refoulement, and Crimmigration: Critical Reflections on the 1951 Refugee Convention and the Associated Protocol

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract/Description

The UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (otherwise referred to as the 1951 Refugee Convention) and its 1967 Protocol are commonly treated as customary international law. The defining principle of these conventions is non-refoulement, the idea that an asylum seeker who has “a well-founded fear of persecution" should not be returned to a territory where such a threat exists. The only exception to this provision is national security considerations. The 1967 Protocol lifted the time and geographical limitations imposed by the original Convention.

Since the ratification of these conventions, their provisions have generally been observed in the breach in the West, especially with the increasing criminalization of asylum seekers from the Global South. Equally, the privileged treatment of Ukrainian refugees at the beginning of that country’s war with Russia suggests that race is a major factor in determining non-refoulement rights, despite the provisions of the UN conventions. These are the central points of reflection for this panel.

Sub Unit

• Area XIV. Roundtables

Chair

• Ifeanyi Ezeonu, Brock University, Ontario, Canada

Discussants

• Carol I. Njoku, University of San Francisco

• Miles Howe, Brock University