The book chapter Studying Non-signatory States: A Shared Ambition, Complementary Approaches is part of the edited volume Non-signatory States in International Refugee Law. The open access book is edited by BEYOND’s Principal Investigator, Professor Maja Janmyr, together with postdoctoral fellows Arjumand Bano Kazmi and Özlem Gürakar Skribeland. The volume is published as part of Brill’s International Refugee Law Series.
About the publication
Since its adoption, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees has been central to scholarship on refugee and asylum issues. Yet, many states, including some hosting major refugee populations, are not parties to either the Convention or to its 1967 Protocol. Introducing the edited collection Non-signatory States in International Refugee Law, this chapter aims to capture and discuss essential aspects in the study of non-signatory states. It unpacks the ways in which diverse critical perspectives and methodological eclecticism are needed to understand the relation between these states and the international refugee regime. This includes going beyond traditional positivist, doctrinal analysis to embrace empirically anchored and richly contextualized approaches.
The chapter further explores how international refugee law is reshaped when actors in non-signatory states engage with its norms, and how national legal and protection landscapes are reconfigured as part of the process. It focuses on the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as part of this, in its capacity as a cornerstone of the international refugee regime. Overall, the chapter argues that the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol play an important role in shaping responses to refugees in many non-signatory states. International refugee law manifests itself in myriad ways in these states, and these states in turn contribute to its further development. In closing, the chapter identifies avenues for further research.