Brief description:

Today’s complexity, scale, and global scope of movements of refugees and migrants, highlight the
need for international cooperation more starkly than at any point in recent history. Given the
transboundary nature of these movements, the necessity of collaboration between states is selfevident.
Already in 1951, the Refugee Convention called on states to ‘cooperate’ in bearing the
‘burden’ of ‘granting asylum’. While the past decades have seen quite a number of instances of
cooperation in the refugee context, the normative development at the international level has been
rather limited: cooperation remains largely ad hoc and states continue to emphasise their
sovereignty and good will, instead of a positive obligation to share responsibility. In addition,
scholars have pointed out that cooperation has been largely hegemonic and increasingly aimed at
outsourcing asylum duties (‘extraterritorialisation’) instead of effecting refugee protection. This
doctoral research project aims to (1) shed light on the concepts of ‘international cooperation’ and
‘responsibility sharing’ under international refugee law, and (2) examine to what extent
international law entails a responsibility sharing obligation in refugee protection for states.
Broadening our understanding of the implications of states’ human rights duties, and removing the
legal uncertainty around the concept of cooperation in refugee law is vital to inform current
discussions on global collective action in refugee protection.

Methodology:

Keywords: burden sharing, international cooperation, international law, responsibility sharing, Solidarity, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees

Home University:

KU Leuven

Faculty:

Institute of International Law

Supervisor: Gleider Hernández

Added to catalogue on: 11-10-2018

Additional information: