The Non-Signatory Blog

In 2003 the Supreme Court of Mauritius concluded that, upon its independence from Great Britain in 1968, Mauritius had succeeded to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Yet Mauritius is not among the formal list of States Parties to the Convention and UNHCR regularly encourages it to accede to the Convention. Why then does the Supreme Court consider Mauritius a State Party while the International Community continues to see it as a non-signatory State?

Although UNHCR has a mandatory duty to promote accession to the 1951 Refugee Convention, UNHCR appears to increasingly take the back seat when it comes to petitioning for state accession. Universal accession to the Convention has proven almost impossible to achieve and new states parties are rare.

What are the risks associated with misuse of research findings in the fields of refugee- and migration studies? And how can these be mitigated in ERC projects?

With a slightly delayed start due to the global pandemic, we are finally kicking off our five-year project BEYOND! Much hard work awaits in the years to come, but the project will be off to a flying start with lots on our to-do list for 2021.