Abstract
ABSTRACTThis research excavates the case of Jewish refugees in Cyprus between 1946 and 1948. I argue that this case is formative of the development not just of the refugee, but—perhaps more interestingly—of the concept of “illegal immigration,” which relies on the constructed impossibility of group-based refugee protection. I contend that there is a paradox residing at the heart of the 1951 Refugee Convention definition of a refugee that produces the refugee as a singular victim while supporting the very conditions that create that victimhood—that is, persecution targeted at an identity group where the persecution is motivated by the shared identity (defined in the Refugee Convention by race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion). As the architecture of international human rights was built, the refugee definition was drafted in a way that embedded group-based exclusion in the design of the definition. I exemplify this through the case of Jewish refugees attempting to reach British Mandate Palestine in the 1940s, who were intercepted and detained in Cyprus. The case is worthy of attention because it exposes the absence of group protection in the refugee definition and the effect of that absence: a group is constituted as a threat and cannot be defined collectively as refugees. Instead, they become “illegal immigrants.” This case study of Jewish detention in Cyprus provides a key empirical example of oppression residing inside a historically liberal movement and in the resulting conditions of refugee protection.
Highlights
At the end of World War II, huge numbers of displaced persons across Europe sought repatriation or resettlement
Most of the media nces referred to the concern that Jewish immigration would threaten local jobs and resources. This concern at the beginning of the War was not alleviated in intervening years; yet, for the British colonial government, the disruption in Palestine attributed to incoming Jewish refugees seeking resettlement in the territory provoked more serious concerns after the War
The colonial office clarified that the same population, who are apparently benefitting from the economic stretching of the British colonial authorities, are unlikely to accept greater numbers of Jewish refugees, and upsetting the balance would be politically disastrous for the British governance of the crown colony
Summary
This is the published version of the paper. The case is worthy of attention because it exposes the absence of group protection in the refugee definition and the effect of that absence: a group is constituted as a threat and cannot be defined collectively as refugees. This case study of Jewish detention in Cyprus provides a key empirical example of oppression residing inside a historically liberal movement and in the resulting conditions of refugee protection. Se convierten en “inmigrantes ilegales.” Este estudio de caso sobre la detención de judíos en Chipre proporciona un ejemplo empírico clave de la opresión que reside en el interior de un movimiento históricamente liberal y en las consecuencias de la protección de los refugiados
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