“Displaced and Misplaced”: the Refugee Phenomenon and Evolution of the International Refugee Regime from the 19th to the early 21st Century

Abstract

The article is based on an extensive historical and theoretical material examining the issue of refugees and the protection of forced migrants. The research investigates the reasons for occurrence of new norms and mechanisms of contemporary international refugee regime due to the major refugee crises in modern and contemporary history (special refugee status, a simplified naturalization procedure for refugees, political asylum, the principles of non-extradition and non-refoulement, etc.). The initial approaches were consolidated in common law. They dealt with the protection of forced migrants in the countries where they sought refuge. Historically, the extent of forced migration has been significantly influenced by age structures (for example, the European “youth bulge” was one of the most important factors affecting the Irish and Jewish emigration to the United States in the 19th century). In the 1920s — 1930s efforts were made under the League of Nations to regulate legal refugee status at the international level, to internationally and legally consolidate criteria according to which the refugee status can be acquired (depending on the origin, the affiliation of an exile to a specific state or specific ethnicity (Russian, Armenian, German, Austrian, etc.) and the principle of “lack of protection” from the country of origin). The regulations were summarized, extended and specified after World War II, which led to a more universal determination consolidated in the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the refugee status. The categories of forced migrants under international protection have gradually expanded in response to the forced migration crises of the second half of the 20th century. Today, UNHCR deals not only with refugees but also with the related categories of people who are in need of international protection. At the beginning of the 21st century the efforts of the global community have been primarily focused on the development of international cooperation to protect refugee rights and assist host countries, which was reflected in the Global Compact on Refugees in 2018.