The UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ Involvement with Internally Displaced Persons: Undermining International Refugee Law?

Abstract

Abstract This chapter explores whether the in-state protection afforded by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to IDPs constitutes ‘protection of that country’ under the Refugee Convention and may thus be used by refugee-receiving states as a reason to deny refugee status. First, it explains the UNHCR’s role with IDPs as well as how international law and refugee law have evolved in response to the growing influence of non-state actors. It then uses both treaty interpretation and relevant domestic and international case law to determine whether protection offered by international organizations such as the UNHCR qualifies as ‘protection of that country’. The chapter argues that the UNHCR is not capable in law or in fact of providing ‘protection of that country’, and hence its activities with IDPs do not—at least in a legal sense—undermine its protection mandate towards refugees.