Part 3 Protection, 11 Treaty Standards and their Implementation in National Law

Abstract

This chapter describes how the main treaties governing the status and treatment of refugees have attracted wide, if not universal acceptance, although they do not in fact either comprehend every refugee known to the world, or, in many cases, offer any but the most basic guarantees. Indeed, both the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol are widely accepted. For those found to qualify, the benefits for which they call are often improved upon in actual practice, and supplemented substantially or filled out by the provisions of regional and related instruments. The Convention and the Protocol represent a point of departure in considering the appropriate standard of treatment of refugees, often exceeded, but still at base proclaiming the fundamental principles of protection, without which no refugee can hope to attain a satisfactory and lasting solution to his or her plight. The chapter examines the provisions of these and related agreements, with a view to determining the appropriate convention standards of treatment applicable to refugees and asylum seekers, whether lawfully or unlawfully in the territory of contracting States.