Protection

History of Protection and Crisis

Problems relating to refugee protection have a long history. Prior to the formation of the United Nations and its agencies, refugees and other people of concern encountered suppression of their basic human rights in some host countries where they had fled to claim asylum, or they experienced generally less favorable treatment than citizens of those countries. Arbitrary and disparate initiatives that were pursued by some nations and groups in the first half of the 20th century often had major shortcomings.

During the period between 1921 and the 1950s, when the first serious consideration of refugees occurred, the policy was characterized by reactive rather than proactive approaches to refugee crisis and problems worldwide. During the three decades following World War I, ineffective mechanisms and lack of readily accessible guidance and relevant skills for dealing with issues relating to protection were commonplace.

The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees constitutes the key legal document in regard to the legal obligations of states and the basic rights of refugees. Being signatories to and compliant with the 1951 Refugee Convention and, in some cases, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) 1967 protocol, had initially been an attractive course of action for states to pursue during the few decades up to the end of the 20th century. A combination of factors, including conflicts, wars, globalization, improved air and land communication, and in certain cases a search for improved economic conditions by working-age sections of populations, particularly from developing countries, seemed to present new crises in relation to migration.

Toward the end of the 20th century and most certainly at the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a notable shift in the position of states as they face asylum crisis. As a reaction, there have been, for example, controversial interceptions of would-be asylum claimants in international waters offshore Australia, and the European Union (EU) states of Spain and Malta, and also in the United States. Instruments such as the 1951 Refugee Convention, which was designed to address this situation, are consistently coming under question as hosting states attempt to deal quickly with sudden surges in migration.

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