The Future of International Solidarity in Global Refugee Protection

Abstract

The main focus of the paper is to reflect analytically on the likely place/role of international solidarity in global refugee protection context in the coming years. Following a short introduction, the paper begins with brief discussions of certain preliminary questions related to the nature of the concept of international solidarity. These discussions are followed by a consideration of some discrete issues related to the “norm/practice chasm” in the operation of international solidarity in global refugee protection (including positive expressions of international solidarity in that context; gaps in human rights-based international solidarity in that same field; and the abusive deployment of international solidarity in the same area). Thereafter, the future of international solidarity in the global refugee protection context is pondered in its duality and complexity, especially the claim that the future of international solidarity is likely to be shaped by a harsher trend that is styled “de-solidarity” in the paper.