FID Recht - Menschenrechte / Humanitäres Recht

Correction to: ‘In Any Manner Whatsoever’: Deconstructing Indirect Violations Beyond ‘Constructive Refoulement’

2026-03-24T00:00:00+00:00

This is a correction to: Dalia Malek, ‘In Any Manner Whatsoever’: Deconstructing Indirect Violations Beyond ‘Constructive Refoulement’, International Journal of Refugee Law, 2025; eeaf030, https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eeaf030

Jane Freedman & Glenda Santana de Andrade (eds), Research Handbook on Asylum and Refugee Policy

2026-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

FreedmanJane & de AndradeGlenda Santana (eds), Research Handbook on Asylum and Refugee Policy (Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham UK & Northampton USA 2024) xvi + 374 pp, ISBN 978-1-80220-458-2 (hbk), ISBN 978-1-80220-459-9 (ebk)

Case Law Summaries

2026-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

Prepared by the Case Law Editorial Team: Aidan Hammerschmid (Coordinating Editor), Brian Barbour, and Regina Jefferies from the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney, Australia; Cleo Hansen-Lohrey from the Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania, Australia; and Felix Peerboom from the Law Faculty, Maastricht University, Netherlands

The good faith requirement in New Zealand refugee law

2026-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

The good faith requirement in New Zealand refugee law has evolved significantly in the past 30 years. First adopted by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in Re HB in 1994, it was written into the Immigration Act 2009, which imposes it on both refugee status and protected person status claimants. In three subsequent cases, the Immigration and Protection Tribunal and the Court of Appeal found the good faith requirement inconsistent with the Refugee Convention and interpreted the good faith provisions in the Immigration Act 2009 restrictively. This article submits that, following those cases, the good faith provisions hardly serve the policy goals of safeguarding the integrity or preventing abuse of the New Zealand asylum system and that those policy goals are better served through measures consistent with the Refugee Convention. It concludes that the good faith provisions in the Immigration Act 2009 should be repealed.

The twice displaced: UNHCR’s role in evacuations

2026-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

This article explores when, why, and how the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) engages in evacuations. Despite being a longstanding practice of the organization and its predecessors, evacuations remain underexamined both as a concept and a protection tool. While evacuations can be life-saving, they can also create further risks. They can provide people with temporary protection but also leave them in limbo. They can enable some refugees to be moved to safety while others never get that opportunity. In some cases, they can result in multiple displacements rather than a durable solution. Through a detailed examination of UNHCR records and other publications, as well as select interviews with current and former UNHCR officials, this article documents the range of circumstances in which UNHCR engages in evacuations and why. Developing a clearer understanding of how UNHCR conceptualizes evacuations in different contexts enables a more holistic and nuanced understanding of their function within the international protection regime and their relationship to other protection tools. In doing so, the article underscores that evacuations are not simply a neutral, technical process but are impacted by a range of political concerns, which necessarily affect protection outcomes.

Bridging the gap between principle and practice: the ‘right to asylum’ under Article 18 EU Charter and its implications for the EU Resettlement Regulation

2026-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

This article examines the ‘right to asylum’ guaranteed under Article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU Charter) and its corresponding legal implications for the processing of people seeking asylum under the EU’s new Resettlement and Humanitarian Admissions Regulation (Resettlement Regulation). While EU Member States are at liberty to decide whether to participate in programmes implemented under the Resettlement Regulation, once they do agree to participate, they are required—as a matter of EU law—to comply with it and other obligations attached to its implementation. This is an uncontroversial proposition. What stands out, however, is the Regulation’s purported attempt to limit its legally binding nature and key fundamental rights that attach to its implementation. The Regulation’s Preamble, for instance, states that ‘there is no right to request admission or to be admitted by a Member State’ and ‘no obligation on Member States to admit a person pursuant to this Regulation’. The implication appears to be that EU Member States (should) have unfettered discretion over the grant of international protection and that the Regulation does not create a subjective ‘right to asylum’ or admission to territory at the insistence of potential beneficiaries located outside the EU. This article problematises this position in light of the ‘right to asylum’ guaranteed under Article 18 and examines the legal parameters within which the Resettlement Regulation must be implemented by EU Member States. This article argues that rights arising under the EU Charter, specifically Article 18’s ‘right to asylum’ will apply to actions taken under the Regulation. Through an analysis of its scope and content, this article concludes that the ‘right to asylum’ under Article 18 EU Charter is not limited to the State’s ‘right to grant asylum’ (as it is under international law) and encompasses not only a substantive right for individuals to seek asylum in the EU, but also a right to be granted asylum where relevant criteria are met. Applied to the EU’s Resettlement Framework, this article examines the extent to which Article 18 might also impose procedural guarantees, including obligations to grant access to territory when such guarantees are denied.

IARMJ Judicial Well-Being and Resilience Guidelines

2026-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Well-being and resilience guidelines have been developed to support all judges doing refugee and/or migration work with well-being and resilience, and to assist them to work in environments that promote and provide access to strategies and tools for their enhancement. The guidelines can be read with the explanatory note, relevant passages are cross-referenced below.
The legal framework for refugee and migration determination often involves exposing judges to evidence of human rights abuses and serious harm. This includes consideration of sensitive and traumatic material, both of a personal nature and background material on countries of origin. In addition, the lawful determination of refugee and migration cases may expose judges to public criticism which in some cases amounts to vilification (Section 2).
Studies of judges establish that many are affected by stress and/or other work-related mental health difficulties and do not consider judicial well-being receives sufficient attention. Refugee and migration judges may be at enhanced risk of symptoms of vicarious trauma, burnout, and moral injury (Section 3).
Judicial leaders can promote judicial well-being and resilience by implementing initiatives and promoting participation in well-being programmes (subject to resourcing constraints), including through participation and role modelling. Their own well-being also requires consideration (Section 4).
It is recommended that judicial leaders ensure that there is a workplace well-being and resilience plan in place for refugee and migration judges, that suits the circumstances and requirements of each jurisdiction (Section 5). The following suggested elements may be included in any well-being and resilience plan for refugee and migration judges:
- the provision of psychological support such as supervision and counselling;
- resilience and well-being training and education for judges;
- the provision of a private intranet page for refugee and migration judges with access and links to well-being and resilience resources, advice and support;
- peer support and mentoring programmes;
- social activities in order to create supportive collegial environments;
- measures to promote physical health;
- a pastoral care protocol or procedure for responding to critical incidents;
- measures to ensure the physical security and safety of judges;
- clearly defined well-being leadership; and
- working practices that take into account the particular challenges faced by refugee and migration judges.

IARMJ Judicial guidelines for the analysis of social media evidence in refugee, protection and migration appeals

2026-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

Judges may wish to consider taking the following factors into account (cross-reference are to the relevant passages of the explanatory note below).

Introduction to the IARMJ Judicial Guidelines

2025-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

The International Association of Refugee and Migration Law Judges (IARMJ) is an association of judges from around the world involved in one way or another with refugee and migration law. It was formally established in 1997. Its Constitution lists one of its objectives as being ‘to foster within the judiciary and quasi-judicial officers world-wide a common, consistent understanding and application of international law, practices and principles relating to refugee, complementary protection, statelessness and related migration issues’. Organised into four chapters (Europe, Asia Pacific, Americas and Africa), the association’s core function is to provide training in refugee law decision making to judges through workshops, chapter conferences, a biennial world conference, biennial Chapter conferences, working parties, newsletters and its website. However, despite numerous publications since the IARMJ’s1¹ formal establishment in 1997 (including books of the world conference papers and abundant training materials), there has not up to now been a mechanism for linking them formally with IARMJ.2² Following a resolution passed at its world conference in the Hague in 2023, the association has now established a mechanism for designating certain materials as ‘IARMJ publications’. It has set up an Editorial Board, with representation from each of the association’s chapters, with a remit to identify, on the basis of certain quality-based criteria, material that can be formally endorsed as ‘IARMJ Publications’. One of the main aims behind establishing this process was to enable production under the aegis of IARMJ of guidelines which represent the distilled thinking over several years by the association’s transnational working parties, who aim to take on board insight from judges around the world. The following two sets of guidelines, both of which also contain a longer Explanatory Note, are the first to bear this designation.

Seventy-Fifth Plenary Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme Remarks Of the Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, Ms. Ruvendrini Menikdiwela

2025-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

Madam Chair,

High Commissioner’s opening statement to the seventy-fifth plenary session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme

2025-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

14 October 2024

‘In Any Manner Whatsoever’: Deconstructing Indirect Violations Beyond ‘Constructive Refoulement’

2025-11-04T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

There is a general consensus across scholarship and evolving jurisprudence that accepts that the non-refoulement rule can be violated indirectly. However, there is no established terminology to characterize the various forms of indirect violations. This contributes to existing uncertainty around the scope of what is sometimes imprecisely referred to as ‘constructive refoulement’ or interchanged with other similar terms. The use of varying terms poses serious interpretive challenges when analyzing State practices, such that rights violations can be overlooked or misattributed. This article argues that, while there is some overlap, three distinct categories of indirect refoulement can be used to classify fixed meanings behind these shifting terms. These categories are referred to as forced spontaneous repatriation, nexus refoulement, and trans-jurisdictional refoulement. Conceptualizing and classifying indirect refoulement assists legal research where accuracy and precision are vital. Doing so also clarifies the principle’s scope and its relationship to human rights provisions that are violated alongside or in aid of refoulement, particularly in uncertain and debated contexts. This serves to reveal the motives, practices, and policies of States, and provides crucial insights that can inform the accurate assigning of responsibility to a State, or multiple States, when indirect refoulement occurs.

Marjoleine Zieck, Resettlement as Protection: Integrating Resettlement of Refugees in International Refugee Law

2025-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

ZieckMarjoleine, Resettlement as Protection: Integrating Resettlement of Refugees in International Refugee Law, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2024, 349, ISBN 978 1 78100 415 9 (cased), ISBN 978 1 78100 416 6 (eBook).

“Sharing Information is the Most Effective Way to Prevent…Human Trafficking”: Stakeholders’ Responses to Survivor Recommendations from a 10-Year Longitudinal Research Project, Cambodia

2026-04-17T07:04:40+00:00

Cultivated meat and the right to adequate food: Enhancing the normative framework to support a shift to sustainable food systems

2026-04-15T02:42:47+00:00

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Ahead of Print.
Global meat consumption has tripled over the past 50 years and is expected to further increase owing to rising incomes and population growth, particularly in emerging economies. Meanwhile, it is well established that meat production is a cause of, and ...

The international law of academic freedom: Grounding a human right and responsibility to science

2026-04-15T02:41:17+00:00

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Ahead of Print.
Academic freedom is under-protected in international human rights law. In order to remedy the situation, this article proposes, first, to critically assess its existing international human rights law framework; second, to interpret the newly re-discovered ...

Motherhood and Human Trafficking: A Paradox of Resilience and Vulnerability

2026-04-15T09:41:02+00:00

The Rights of Roma in European Courts: Strategic Litigation and the Boundaries of Human Rights

2026-04-14T07:42:16+00:00

The Right to Legal Personhood of Marginalised Groups: Achieving Equal Recognition Before the Law for All

2026-04-14T07:41:48+00:00

Developing methods to trace the right to housing in national eviction litigation: Combining computational methods and doctrinal analysis

2026-04-13T02:03:58+00:00

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Ahead of Print.
The right to housing is a fundamental human right, yet its role in domestic litigation remains difficult to trace. This paper examines to what extent the right to housing plays a role in Dutch eviction case law through a dataset of 6,005 cases, combining ...

PMSCs meet AI-driven swarm drones: the paradigm-shifting issues of accountability

2026-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

This article examines how state reliance on private military and security companies (PMSCs) affects the attribution of conduct by artificial intelligence (AI)-driven swarm drones under international law. While the outsourcing of military functions to PMSCs has long raised accountability concerns, the deployment of AI-enabled swarm technologies intensifies these challenges by introducing autonomous and adaptive decision-making that strains existing attribution frameworks. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature on AI, machine learning, and swarm intelligence, the article outlines the technological characteristics of AI-driven swarm drones and explains how their operational unpredictability contributes to a responsibility gap in international law. The analysis demonstrates that although PMSCs may complicate attribution between individuals and states, the more profound difficulty lies in attributing the conduct of autonomous systems to human actors at all. As a result, individual responsibility frameworks offer limited solutions where harm results from AI-driven swarm behaviour. The article argues that state responsibility, anchored in the obligation to conduct legal weapons reviews under Article 36 of Additional Protocol I, provides a more viable, though incomplete, mechanism for addressing accountability. It further suggests that the use of AI-enabled swarm drones by PMSCs may lower the threshold for the use of force and obscure the initiation of hostilities. The article concludes that addressing the challenges posed by AI-driven swarm drones requires a shift in emphasis towards preventive state obligations and standardized legal review practices, alongside a reassessment of how international law conceptualizes responsibility in relation to autonomous weapons systems.

Annexation: a threat that never fades

2026-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

This article examines the doctrinal stability and practical fragility of the international legal prohibition of annexation and evaluates how the UN Charter system has operated against annexation in practice. It clarifies the taxonomy of annexation—distinguishing de jure and de facto annexation from belligerent occupation—and traces the sources grounding the non-acquisition rule and the corresponding duties of non-recognition and non-assistance. Building on Brunk and Hakimi’s argument that the prohibition of annexation is an autonomous norm not reducible to Article 2(4), this article assesses how far the Charter-era jus ad bellum architecture has nevertheless treated ‘force’ as its organizing centre, and what this has meant for enforcement. It then evaluates effectiveness across selected cases using three criteria: deterrence ex ante, remedy ex post, and consistency across like cases. The study finds a mixed record: while doctrine is comparatively stable, inconsistent enforcement and selective (non-) recognition have limited deterrence, complicated reversals, and produced uneven treatment, with implications for self-determination and customary law. Rather than proposing to redefine Article 2(4), this article argues that today’s principal risks lie in post-force consolidation, pretextual justifications, and other strategies that shift contestation to the ‘force’ characterization while annexation’s autonomous consequences remain engaged. The conclusion urges more consistent application of non-recognition and non-assistance to prevent faits accomplis from hardening into tolerated title.

The principle of foreseeable harm to innocents: a doctrinal framework for the protection of ascertainable civilians in armed conflict

2026-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

Modern targeting doctrine permits the foreseeable killing of ascertainable civilians provided the harm can be characterized as ‘unintended’ and ‘not excessive’. This article argues that existing international humanitarian law, properly interpreted, already prohibits such harm where feasible alternatives exist. It articulates the Principle of Foreseeable Harm to Innocents (FHI): a doctrinal standard, grounded in Article 57 of Additional Protocol I, that interposes an ‘avoidability gate’ between the identification of a military objective and proportionality analysis. Attacks may not proceed against foreseeable civilian risk until the attacking authority has demonstrated that no feasible alternative could eliminate or substantially reduce the harm. The framework builds on Ohlin’s defence of the intent/foresight distinction, Crawford’s analysis of systemic collateral damage, Shue’s capacity-indexed account of legal obligation, and Lewis’s operational research on civilian harm detection failures. The article addresses tactical and operational targeting decisions—planned strikes where decision-makers have time to assess civilian presence and consider alternatives—not political decisions preceding armed conflict nor dynamic engagements where reaction time forecloses deliberation. The central contribution is methodological: shifting legal inquiry from reconstruction of subjective intention to verification of objective alternatives. Enforcement examines what the commander knew and what alternatives existed, not mental states. This aligns with Article 57’s capacity-indexed structure, drafted to expand precautionary obligations as technological capability increases. FHI does not supplant proportionality; it ensures proportionality addresses only genuinely unavoidable harm. By anchoring legality in verifiable facts, FHI offers a doctrinally grounded mechanism for addressing foreseeable, avoidable harm to ascertainable civilians in deliberative targeting.

From emergency relief to development holds: the developmental shift in the ICRC’s humanitarian assistance in protracted conflict

2025-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

The challenge of responding to wide-ranging and long-term humanitarian needs that arise in situations of protracted conflict in a sustainable manner has prompted a developmental shift in humanitarian assistance in the past decades. In the case of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), this developmental shift has had two facets. The nature and scope of humanitarian assistance delivered by the organization has transformed over time, expanding beyond emergency relief to the delivery of essential services, rebuilding of civilian infrastructures, livelihood support and training, and institutional capacity building. The organization has also begun to collaborate with development organizations. Most notably, the ICRC and the World Bank have entered into an Operational Framework Agreement to partner in conflict-affected situations, which requires conditions such as demonstration of a robust development rationale for an ICRC operation to be financed by the World Bank. This article offers a critical assessment of this developmental shift and the international law issues it raises, investigating in particular the extent to which expansive humanitarian assistance activities align with the assistance mandate envisaged in international humanitarian law, and what the developmental shift means for impartiality, neutrality, and independence of humanitarian assistance. The article ultimately demonstrates how the ICRC pragmatically re-interprets its assistance mandate and understanding of humanitarian principles to meet evolving humanitarian needs and to navigate the requirements of development funding.

Where Can We Go from Here? Dissecting Mexico’s Human Trafficking Legislation

2026-04-09T05:13:50+00:00

Ambivalent Oversight? Fundamental Rights Monitors Caught between Human Rights Witnessing and Deportations from the EU

2026-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

Deportations can threaten the fundamental rights of those being forcibly removed, especially during their execution. On this account, Article 8(6) of the EU Return Directive requires Member States to set up effective systems to monitor deportations. This provision mandates monitors to act as third-party witnesses to observe that deportation operations respect human rights, without interfering with procedures. Through interviews with monitors, this article explores their ambivalent positioning as guardians of rights and facilitators of ‘more humane’ and efficient operations in the context of air deportations. Findings show that monitors often face tensions between their human rights oversight role and their implication in a process that is inhumane. While they play a crucial role in oversight—enhancing visibility, producing authoritative knowledge, contributing to the disruption of official narratives, and documenting to enable changes—their limited powers make them part of a system that can lead, in certain circumstances, to them facilitating deportations in practice. The article interrogates such ambivalence of monitoring, finally briefly noting the need for reconsidering mandates and intervention powers of monitors, as to empower deportees and further distance monitoring from state enforcement practices.

Humanrightization of Migration Discourses: A Conceptual Framework

2026-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

This article explores the humanrightization of migration discourses, with particular attention to the concepts of legal (human rights) consciousness, ‘doing human rights’, and speech acts. We argue that over the past three decades, migration issues have increasingly been framed, discussed, and negotiated through the language of human rights. Politically and socially, this is reflected in frequent references to human rights within advocacy, justification, and the struggles of migrants and their allies. Legally, it is evident in courts and legal actors acknowledging human rights claims made by migrants, irrespective of their status. Human rights are also widely invoked in the everyday experiences of migration societies. The article conceptualizes humanrightization as a transformative process by which human rights norms become embedded in legal, political, and social discourses. This shapes the way migration-related conflicts are addressed across contexts. In contrast to earlier patterns of discretionary inclusion or exclusion, this trend marks a significant expansion of human rights frameworks. It reflects a broader development since the 1990s, where human rights have become central to justice, governance, and policymaking. The authors’ framework captures both the promise and the complexity of humanrightization. While it opens possibilities to challenge discriminatory laws, restrictive policies, and exclusionary practices, it does not assume a linear or inevitable progression. Rather, outcomes are shaped by shifting power relations and specific political conditions. By focusing on the humanrightization of migration, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of contemporary human rights practice in societies shaped by migration and transnational interconnection.

Costs of Three Cups of Tea: Will a Human Rights Court Make Justice Affordable?

2026-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

South Africa’s Constitution is restitution-oriented, yet the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) established by the Constitution must use expensive, slow High Court processes to enforce outcomes. The author argued in the Constitutional Court of South Africa with minimal costs as the proceedings were virtual. This led the author to wonder how justice could be affordable for all. More recently, the author was a litigant in the Electoral Court of South Africa, where applicants were unrepresented—and his side won, albeit with higher costs. Questions arising out of why these cases were relatively affordable led the author to propose a Rights Court of South Africa to make litigation for basic rights accessible. The proposed model draws on the strong points of the Electoral Court: nimble processes and a link to a rights-related institution. This Rights Court would replace the Equality Court with a specialist standalone court with concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court but with simpler, more nimble processes aimed at quick results on rights violations. The SAHRC would use this court for litigating violations of the Bill of Rights and the streamlined processes of this court would make for rapid restitution, while not overwhelming the SAHRC with costs. Access to the court would be through the SAHRC, with allowance for direct access if the SAHRC denies a request, to avoid inundating the court. Other countries with a justiciable Bill of Rights could adopt a similar concept.

Exiled Activists from Myanmar: Predicaments and Possibilities of Human Rights Activism from Abroad

2026-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

In this article, we put forward the concept of the ‘exiled activist’ to highlight the predicaments and the possibilities that practicing human rights activism from abroad bring with it. Human rights activists from Myanmar struggle to continue their work after the military regime forced them to flee their home country over four and a half years ago. Since the attempted military coup on 1 February 2021, 30,074 citizens have been imprisoned and 7,517 killed (as of December 2025). Although exiled activism has a long tradition in Myanmar, the current situation is unprecedented. Not only have many activists left the country, but those who are still in Myanmar have been forced into hiding or have joined the armed resistance. This brain drain has impacted NGO work as well as different education sectors, including the formal education sector and online education formats in which many human rights activists were previously employed. This article takes account of these dramatic changes and focuses on the actual work that exiled activists from Myanmar currently carry out, as well as on the psychosocial predicaments they face.

Housing for Survivors of Human Trafficking in the United States: Service Provider Perspectives

2026-04-06T11:38:48+00:00

Indigenous cultural property and international law—restitution, rights and wrongs

2026-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

Indigenous cultural property and international law—restitution, rights and wrongs, Shea Esterling, London, Routledge, 2024, xiii +248 pp. ISBN 9781032540832

Bridging the business–human rights divide: the multi-dimensional dynamics of transnational access to justice in mass tort litigation

2026-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

In response to the paradigm shift from territorial corporations to globalized businesses, calls for access to justice increasingly transcend national borders, exacerbated by a substantial inequality of arms in mass tort litigation. Recognizing its interdisciplinary significance and complexity, this article engages in a multi-dimensional analysis of access to justice within the business and human rights (BHR) framework, examining international initiatives, regional developments, and mass tort litigation against multinational corporations. Focussing on judicial innovations by English courts while highlighting the enduring barriers faced by claimants, it anticipates a potential ‘siphon effect’ in forum competition, with implications for victims, multinational businesses, and courts in both home and host states. By integrating doctrinal, normative, and pragmatic perspectives, the article frames access to justice both as a constellation of rights to fair dispute resolution and remedies expressly protected under human rights law, and as a core element of the evolving BHR landscape.

Enforcing international judgments domestically: the case of the inter-American court of human rights

2026-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

Enforcing international judgments domestically: the case of the inter-American court of human rights, Ayla do Vale Alves and Lucas Lixinski, Brill Nijhoff Law Specials, Leiden, 2024, vii, + 259 pp, €99.00. ISBN 978–90–04-74,182-9

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Employment Relation

2026-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

Klaus Lörcher, Niklas Bruun and Ana Teresa Ribeiro (editors), The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Employment Relation, Hart Publishing, 2025, pp. xviii + 550, 269,25 € ISBN: 978-1-50998-459-6 (Hardback) / 978-1-50998-460-2 (Ebook: Epub & Mobi) / 978-1-50998-461-9 (Ebook: PDF)

Enforced disappearances: on universal responses to a worldwide phenomenon

2026-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Enforced disappearances: on universal responses to a worldwide phenomenon. Grażyna Baranowska and Milica Kolaković-Bojović (eds), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2025, pp. x + 294, £95. ISBN 9781009461726 (hb).

Addressing the Linkages Between Nondiscrimination and Substantive Rights

2026-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

Human rights law ensures both nondiscrimination and substantive rights. These two types of protection are conceptually distinct. But they are often intertwined in practice, because persons with vulnerable identities are especially at risk of being deprived of substantive rights. So how should human rights laws and institutions handle situations at the interplay of nondiscrimination and substantive rights? There is no single answer. Instead, as this article describes, three different methods are employed in practice. In some contexts, human rights actors take a disaggregated approach, looking separately at nondiscrimination and substantive rights. At other times, human rights law itself spells out a specific substantive rule—a specified approach—to protect a particularly vulnerable group, such as requiring paid leave for working mothers after childbirth. Yet a third method is a holistic approach that highlights linkages between substantive rights and nondiscrimination. This article discusses each of these approaches and identifies trade-offs inherent in each approach. It then goes on to show, through a case study of several International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights articles, how all three of these approaches can be found and applied within a single human rights instrument. The article concludes with some suggestions for how to pick between the three approaches in different contexts within and beyond human rights law.

Promoting and Defending the Rights of the Vulnerable. Nordic Norm Advocacy at the UN Human Rights Council

2026-03-25T06:20:54+00:00

The ASEAN Declaration on the Placement and Protection of Migrant Fishers: Genuine Commitment or Symbolic Gesture?

2026-03-21T05:18:44+00:00

Human rights due diligence: Lessons from a regulatory intermediary perspective

2026-03-20T12:54:39+00:00

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Ahead of Print.
Human rights due diligence (HRDD) has become the pre-eminent norm in the business and human rights field. However, despite more than a decade of practice and the advent of mandatory HRDD (mHRDD) laws, evidence about how human rights due diligence (HRDD) ...

Book Review

2026-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

NordlanderLinnéaHuman rights and climate change the law on loss and damage, London, Routledge, 2025, pp. 216, paperback £34.39, ISBN 9781032416816

Structural Violence and LGBTQ+ Vulnerability to Trafficking in Persons for Sexual Exploitation in Albania: A Qualitative Study

2026-03-20T01:17:39+00:00

Curating Human Rights: Displaying, Combating and Obscuring Human Rights Violations in Museums

2026-03-19T06:03:19+00:00

Evolution of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights as Human Rights: Contribution of Sámi Rights Cases at UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies

2026-03-19T03:07:20+00:00

Volume 44, Issue 1, March 2026, Page 1-20
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Equality and consistency as antidotes to the board-of-peace-world

2026-03-17T10:29:29+00:00

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Volume 44, Issue 1, Page 3-13, March 2026.
This column discusses the new Board-of-Peace (BoP) world order in the making and evaluates what role mid-sized and smaller states can take in it. Through a discussion of Venezuela, Palestine, Ukraine, sanctions against the ICC, and the crime of aggression ...

Assessing UNHCR Guidance on FGM-Related Asylum Claims: Implementation Gaps, Reaffirmation Needs, or Substantive Ambiguities?

2026-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

This study examines how national adjudicators interpret and apply the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees guidance in asylum claims related to female genital mutilation. Drawing on a structured consistency analysis of 30 case rulings across diverse jurisdictions, primarily from the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, and Ireland, it identifies three main sources of divergence: (1) implementation failures despite clear guidance, (2) restrictive interpretations enabled by under-specified standards, and (3) substantive ambiguities in areas not fully addressed by current guidance. Most inconsistencies stem from misapplications at the lower-court level, particularly in risk assessments, State protection analysis, and internal relocation evaluations, often corrected on appeal. Across several rulings, courts highlighted the need for stronger reaffirmation of existing principles, including the enduring harm caused by female genital mutilation or the State’s exclusive responsibility for protection. Only a limited number of cases revealed genuine doctrinal uncertainty, mainly in relation to parental asylum claims involving citizen children. These findings underscore not only the enforcement challenges specific to female genital mutilation-related claims but also broader implications for the adjudication of gender-based persecution within refugee law.

Prolonging the Temporary: Female-Headed Syrian Refugee Households on Displacement, Return and Waiting post-Assad

2026-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

This study explores the migration decisions and lived experiences of female-headed Syrian refugee households in Lebanon amid evolving political conditions following the fall of the Assad regime in 2024. Drawing on 50 in-depth interviews, it investigates how caregiving responsibilities, gender-based vulnerabilities, and the enduring threat of patriarchal violence shape these women’s reluctance to return to Syria and their aspirations for resettlement in Europe. While Lebanon offers relative freedoms, it remains a site of profound precarity, forcing women into protracted states of waiting. Anchored in feminist theory, intersectionality, and the aspirations-capabilities framework, this article reframes displacement as a gendered and strategic negotiation rather than passive victimhood. These women, navigating abandonment, statelessness, and systemic exclusion, emerge as agents of resilience – resisting reductive narratives and asserting autonomy through deliberate choices. The study calls for gender-responsive refugee policies that centre the specific needs, risks, and aspirations of female-headed households in protracted displacement contexts.

International Protection for Victims of Gang Violence: Central American Asylum Claims in Spanish Jurisprudence

2025-12-27T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

Gang violence is pervasive, high-risk, and often involves targeted individuals, yet difficulties frequently arise in recognising international protection during refugee status determination (RSD). Closer analysis reveals that victims may fall within the scope of refugee protection under the the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and EU asylum law. This article explores the interplay between gang-related violence and international protection, focusing on the North of Central America – El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala – a region plagued by systemic violence primarily due to the activity of a kind of criminal gang known as maras. Despite severe violence, asylum claims by nationals of these countries are systematically denied in Spain, which receives the most such claims in the EU. Rejections are often based on standardised decisions lacking robust motivation and stem from a misinterpretation of the international and EU asylum regimes. By analysing global refugee case law, this article aims to highlight shortcomings in Spanish jurisprudence and show how EU asylum law can better address such claims, contending that Spanish judicial reasoning needs stronger argumentative tools to align gang-based asylum claims with a more coherent understanding of the international protection regime.

Individual Autonomy or Dispersion in Housing Policy? The Effect of Migrant Networks in Self-Selected Housing on Labour Market Outcomes in Sweden

2025-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

This study examines how two housing policy options in Sweden, namely government-assigned accommodation and self-selected housing, affect refugees’ housing conditions, employment status, and income. Drawing on migrant network theory, we argue that refugees who find their own housing are more likely to access social ties that support faster integration into the labour market. We use administrative and survey data on over 16,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees granted residence in 2016, and we find that those in self-selected housing are, on average, more likely to be employed and to earn higher annual incomes than those in government-assigned housing. Introducing novel survey data, we also assess housing quality, security of tenure, and economic outcomes in neighbourhoods officially classified as areas with “socio-economic challenges”. While incomes are generally lower in these areas, refugees in self-selected housing still perform better than those in government-assigned housing. These findings highlight the importance of social networks for economic integration and raise concerns about how vulnerability classifications are applied in Swedish housing policy.

UNHCR–Türkiye Relations Over Time: Fluctuations, Continuities and Strategic Use of Informality

2025-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

This article studies United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s more than six-decade-long presence in Türkiye, spanning markedly different political and legal contexts. Over the past three decades (post-1994), Türkiye’s asylum framework has undergone a process of gradual formalisation, including a clearer role definition for UNHCR in legal instruments, whereas the earlier decades (1960–1994) were characterised by more open informality. Nevertheless, significant continuities persist. Despite relative formalisation, both periods share a common thread of informality and discretionary decision-making in practice, which UNHCR navigated and strategically engaged with. Further, the relations between UNHCR and Türkiye, as well as the agency’s role, did not evolve unidirectionally in either period, but rather through shifts, ruptures, and cycles in law and practice. These fluctuations mirrored Türkiye’s intentionally ad hoc approach to refugee protection, further complicated by its geographical limitation under the Refugee Convention. Prioritising cooperation, UNHCR pragmatically worked with informal solutions, which enabled it to achieve objectives within its mandate that might otherwise have been out of reach. By examining – through the lens of UNHCR–Türkiye relations – the persistent role of informality across changing political and legal contexts, the article aims to contribute to the literature on UNHCR–State relations and on the role of informality in migration governance.

Gender and Forced Displacement in Islam: Advancing a Protection Framework for Women

2025-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

While extensive scholarship exists on gender in Islam and asylum in Islam as separate domains, little attention has been given to their intersection. The specific risks and challenges faced by displaced women—who are disproportionately affected by conflict and displacement – are often overlooked in scholarship on Islam and forced displacement, which frequently adopts a gender-neutral approach, paying limited attention to the Islamic tradition’s emphasis on protecting women. This article addresses this gap by examining Islamic sources on the treatment of displaced women through a literature review and theological analysis. It introduces a conceptual “5x3” protection framework that is both gender-inclusive and faith-sensitive, aligning the needs of displaced women with the five maqāṣid al-sharīʿah (higher objectives of Islamic law) and three central rights in Islam: hijra (migration), amān (protection), and ighātha (relief). By applying a gender lens to these principles, the article highlights how Islamic traditions and philanthropy can theoretically address the specific vulnerabilities of displaced women. It provides conceptual resources for theorising women’s protection in displacement and underscores how a holistic consideration of the Islamic rights to migration, protection, and relief advances the maqāṣid al-sharīʿah objectives, preserving life and well-being for displaced women. The article concludes with recommendations for strengthening gender-sensitive protection in member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

The Place of Safety in Refugees’ Subjective Well-Being

2025-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

References to safety feature at the heart of research on refugees’ well-being and livelihoods in destination countries. However, these tend to restrict safety to the absence of important threats, such as threats to a person’s physical integrity. Furthermore, many of these threats are considered resolved once the person seeking refuge is in a ‘safe’ country. Through semi-structured interviews conducted with refugees in the United Kingdom (UK), I identify a distinct form of safeness, which refers to refugees’ own subjective sense of safety. Drawing from a broader literature on subjective well-being, these interviews help define safeness as a positive and continuous feeling, characterised by a sense of peace with oneself in both present and future temporalities, and of the possibility to explore one’s personal boundaries. Importantly, safeness is not entirely relatable to indicators of refugees’ current safety conditions. Alongside a conceptual contribution, safeness has key implications for policymaking in the UK and elsewhere, where assumptions are often made as to what defines safety, and as such how to ensure refugees’ safety.

Agency in Action: Mobilisation Efforts of South Sudanese Refugees in Ethiopia

2025-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

The article contributes to the discourse on refugee agency by examining the dual role of formal and informal structures in refugee camps and how these structures both constrain and facilitate collective mobilisation. It also examines refugees’ mobilisation processes for collective action and the role of social spaces of mobilisation. Drawing on extensive field research from 2014 to 2023 in different camps in the Gambella region, the main findings of this article show that camp structures play both a constraining and facilitating role in the mobilisation of refugees for collective action. While refugees find themselves in formal structures that promote discipline and control, they often turn to informal leaders and social networks to organise, demand better services, and sometimes resist decisions made by camp authorities. The study also underlines the importance of both spaces and networks for social mobilisation. However, it also shows that these social spaces, more particularly communal spaces of mobilisation, are often dominated by men and majority groups, marginalising the voices and concerns of minorities. Building on contemporary research on agency, this study offers insights into the complex relationship between refugee mobilisation, community-based structures, and social spaces.

Where is the Policy in Refugee Studies? Enhancing the Role of Policy Studies in the Study of Refugee Policy

2025-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

Refugee and forced migration studies have long drawn on a range of disciplinary insights, yet the field of policy studies remains under-utilised. This article explores the intersection between public policy and refugee studies, arguing that greater engagement with policy studies can enrich the analysis of refugee responses. While research on refugee policy has expanded in recent years, most of this scholarship does not employ established theoretical or analytical tools from policy studies. As a result, many studies overlook how broader policy processes – shaped by actors, interests, and institutions – affect the adoption, evolution, and implementation of refugee policies. To address this gap, we propose the use of the public policy cycle model for advancing research, teaching, and analysis within refugee studies. The model highlights distinct stages in the policy process, providing entry points for researchers to engage with how refugee policies are made, contested, and institutionalised. Importantly, the framework is applicable at both domestic and international levels, making it a valuable tool for analysing national refugee responses as well as developments in global refugee policy, which remains understudied. By integrating policy studies more systematically, the field of refugee studies can better explain how refugee policies emerge and evolve across different contexts.

‘Vulnerability’ in Decisions on International Protection in Austria: A Contribution to Equality?

2025-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

Academic literature and policy papers have suggested that using the concept of vulnerability leads to more substantive equality, including in the context of asylum. Although vulnerability is not explicitly mentioned in qualification criteria for international protection, the concept has found its way into relevant jurisprudence of international courts such as the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and into case law of Austrian courts. This article scrutinises the application of the vulnerability concept in Austrian court decisions on international protection, focussing on its role in legal reasoning and its impact on eligibility criteria for international protection. Using the conceptual lens of “racialisation”, the Austrian case study further aims to understand the impact of the vulnerability concept from an equality perspective. It concludes that Austrian courts’ utilisation of vulnerability in most cases has no added legal value. However, it risks neglecting an important aspect of equality: avoiding stereotyping and stigmatisation.

Protecting the rights of older persons in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies through the proposed UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons

2026-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

It goes without saying that in times of risk and humanitarian emergency, such as armed conflict, forced displacement, and disasters, older persons may be in a particularly precarious situation. In April 2025, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously adopted Resolution 58/13 to commence a process for the elaboration of a legally binding international instrument on the rights of older persons. This is an important milestone since older persons face ‘relative invisibility’ in both international human rights law and during humanitarian crises. This article critically analyses the existing provisions in regional and international human rights law on the rights of older persons, and in particular on the rights of older persons in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies. To promote debate and critique, the article sets out proposed wording for a dedicated article on situations of risk in the proposed UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.

Redress for colonial harm in discourse and practice: A review of initiatives, actors, and approaches in Belgium

2026-03-06T11:27:56+00:00

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Volume 44, Issue 1, Page 61-86, March 2026.
Since the summer of 2020, Belgium has seen a boom in institutional and civil society initiatives related to redress for the ongoing legacies of colonial violence. While some mobilise existing international, regional, and domestic legal frameworks, others ...

Recent Publications

2026-03-06T07:34:19+00:00

Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Volume 44, Issue 1, Page 87-92, March 2026.

Struggles for the Human: Violent Legality and the Politics of Rights

2026-03-03T05:49:44+00:00

Determinants of Intention to Engage in Preventive Practices and Practices of Internal Child Trafficking Among the Residents of Wolaita Sodo Town

2026-02-27T12:17:29+00:00

The intersubjective dimension of human dignity—from philosophical theorizing to case law examples from the European Court of Human Rights

2026-02-25T00:00:00+00:00

Abstract

The legal concept of human dignity has been much theorized, and it is also frequently used in practice. However, due to the multitude of different theories and uses, the resulting picture of human dignity is complex, messy, and pixel-like. There is a need to clarify this picture, yet without oversimplifying matters. This article attempts to do so by promoting a three-dimensional understanding of human dignity, with a special focus on its intersubjective dimension. This understanding of dignity is based on a study of recent theoretical accounts of dignity as well as on an exploration of certain illuminating cases from the rich case law of the European Court of Human Rights regarding human dignity. The three-dimensional understanding, especially the intersubjective dimension, offers a frame and provides much-needed terms through which different theoretical accounts of dignity and its applications in legal practice can be analysed—the theoretical and practical outlook working together.