La fabrique des normes internationales sur la protection des réfugiés au sein du comité exécutif du HCR

Abstract

Each year, the executive committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees adopts by consensus Conclusions on the International Protection of Refugees. These are regarded as universal standards in the area of asylum and are part of the multiple international recommendations that shape what some today refer to as a transnational legal order. The Conclusions contribute to specifying what attitude states should adopt towards the populations living on their territory. Drawing upon an ethnographic approach, this article analyzes the manner in which these global norms are constructed upstream within networks of transnational experts and multilateral forums. Who are the actors who participate in their definition and on the basis of what frameworks of action and reflection ? How are they subsequently negotiated by diplomats occupying fundamentally divergent stances and representations ? How, finally, are universality and consensus socially constructed ?