Complementary Protection and Encampment

Abstract

A camp may be described as a temporary space in which individuals receive humanitarian relief and protection until a durable solution can be found to their situation. The camp environment is often riddled with contradictions - the camp can be a place of refuge while at the same time, a place of overcrowding, exclusion, and suffering. This article asks to what extent removal of an individual from state A to state B, where he or she will have to live in a camp, is a breach of state A’s human rights law obligations. It argues that even if encampment in state B will expose the individual to terrible conditions, it is unlikely that they will be able to successfully challenge a removal decision before international human rights courts and/or treaty monitoring bodies.