Main Debate
- With no mechanisms in place to support burden-sharing, it remains an ideal.
Main Points
- While Article 2 of the OAU Refugee Convention was drafted in the spirit of burden-sharing, the reality reflects otherwise.
- Neighbouring States and States with better human rights records are attracting larger numbers of refugees.
UNHCR Documents
- UNHCR, ‘Ensuring International Protection and Enhancing International Cooperation in Mass Influx Situations: Advance Summary Findings of the Study Commissioned by UNHCR’, 7 June 2004, EC/54/SC/CRP.11.
- UNHCR, ‘Global Consultations on International Protection/Third Track: Mechanisms of International Cooperation to Share Responsibilities and Burdens in Mass Influx Situations’, 19 February 2001, EC/GC/01/7.
- UNHCR, ‘Guidelines on Temporary Protection or Stay Arrangements’, February 2014.
Readings
Core
- A. Suhrke, ‘Burden-sharing during refugee emergencies: The logic of the collective versus national action’, Journal of Refugee Studies, vol.11, no. 4(1998),pp.396-415.
- G. Okoth-Obbo, ‘Thirty Years on: A Legal Review of the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa’, Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 1 (2001), pp. 91-96.
- M. Sharpe, ‘The 1969 African Refugee Convention: Innovations, Misconceptions, and Omissions’ McGill Law Journal, . 58, no. 1 (2012) 58:1, pp. 13-17.
- B. Rutinwa, ‘The end of asylum? The changing nature of refugee policies in Africa’, New Issues in Refugee Research, Working paper No. 5, 10 May 1999, pp. 5-6.
