Killing asylum softly or leaving no one behind? The New York declaration and global compacts in a divided world

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the competition and interrelationship between a cooperative approach to protection of refugees pursued through the United Nations – one that seeks to ‘leave no one behind’ – and externalization practices that deflect obligations for refugees. The New York Declaration and Global Compacts present a welcome contrast to discourses concerning a crisis in sovereignty. Nevertheless, the catch-cry of the SDGs, ‘leave no one behind’ which features prominently in these documents may serve to mask many states’ determination to provide just, or not even ‘enough’ [Moyn, 2018. Not enough: Human rights in an unequal world. Harvard University Press] for refugees on the premise that these others must be demobilized (in the case of refugees and asylum seekers) or contracted to do the humanitarian heavy lifting (in the case of host states).