Landmark Cases in International Refugee Protection

This volume examines judicial decisions that have shaped the law of asylum and refugee protection.

Each chapter analyses a single judicial decision and locates it in a wider legal, political and policy context, tracing its subsequent impact on refugee law and policy. Some of the decisions analysed in this collection were foundational in establishing the reach of refugee law, particularly in defining the scope of the refugee definition. Others engage with key areas of refugee rights in contexts which indicate a critical turning point in state refugee policy, such as interdiction of boats at sea, encampment and extraterritorial asylum processing mechanisms. The contributions demonstrate how refugee protection is shaped by the intersection of different fields of law, including refugee law, human rights law, and domestic constitutional provisions.

Reflecting this complexity, the collection explores decisions from the UK, Canada, USA, Kenya, Australia and Papua New Guinea, as well as regional courts including the European Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and decisions of the United Nations Human Rights treaty bodies. Authors include leading academics and practitioners in refugee and human rights law from a range of jurisdictions.

This book offers compelling insights for anyone with an interest in international refugee protection, human rights, and the development of international refugee law.

Author Biography

Kirsten McConnachie is Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at the University of East Anglia and Research Associate of the University of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre, UK.
Sarah Singer is Professor of Refugee Law at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, and Programme Director of the MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies, UK.