There are many points on which to find agreement with James Hathaway’s recent piece in this debate—particularly the continued relevance of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Yet the article’s conclusions and recommendations contrast starkly with an earlier proposal made in 1997 where he argued that the international Refugee Convention regime was no longer workable and should be replaced. Today, all of the justifications for that proposal remain in place but have become measurably worse: non-entrée barriers by northern/western states; interdiction of refugees traveling by sea; restrictive asylum processes; jurisdictional bars to asylum procedures; detention and other deterrence measures to refugees’ access to admission; and visa and other restrictions that confine refugees to particular states or regions.
The policies that host states are implementing that affect refugees’ freedom of movement must be understood in terms of their absorption capacity. Lebanon and Jordan (along with Syria) have already hosted the majority of the world’s Palestinian refugees for over sixty years. Despite incredible efforts to provide for the Syrian refugee influx, Jordan, Lebanon, and even, most recently, Turkey, have exceeded capacity to absorb more desperate refugees. All three countries have effectively closed their borders to more refugees from Syria.
With the Middle East region today hosting 22% of the global refugee total of almost 20 million people, the region has been at the bursting point for years, and now it has burst. Two main factors have caused host states in the region to impose greater restrictions on refugees’ rights, including freedom of movement: the perception that Western/Northern states have caused or exacerbated conflicts in the region, and that the states most vociferously claiming host states are violating refugee rights are themselves major violators of the Refugee Convention.
