In the ongoing debate on refugee protection, we risk pushing new solutions without properly considering where and why we have succeeded and failed thus far. Refugee protection as we know it has been creaking at the joints for decades. Millions of refugees and their children can ably testify that “protection” has frequently “warehoused” them as bodies to be fed and housed, in the process blocking their contribution to global society. Refreshing refugee protection resides in deep political and attitudinal shifts. Here I raise just three of the uncomfortable questions we need to ask.
Is UNHCR fit for purpose?
The protection regime is state-centric. Paradoxically, while UNHCR is intended to “ensure the implementation of 1951 in the spirit it was intended” rather than “implement its provisions”, it is itself a multi-lateral organisation serving the interests of states parties.
Although UNHCR provides important global conceptual leadership on refugee matters, states averse to oversight can quickly blunt its cutting edge innovations—such as the Alternatives to Camps policy. Country operations are frequently pressured to pursue non-confrontational relationships with host governments rather than risk key staff being declared persona non grata. In many respects UNHCR in-country, as is the case for OHCHR and other UN agencies, is both state-sanctioned judge and jury of state implementation. Under this arrangement they inevitably lack dentures, let alone teeth.
