JDC Literature Review
The JDC literature review contains summaries of recent publications and academic scholarship on issues relating to forced displacement.
The Promise and Potential of the Global Compact on Refugees
Volker Turk reflects on the Global Compact on Refugees and its potential to shape collective approaches to refugee situations. He describes the context for the formulation of the Refugee Compact (increasing numbers of forced displacement, the majority hosted in...
The Global Compacts and the Future of Refugee and Migrant Protection in the Asia Pacific Region
The Asia Pacific region is generally under-represented in the 148 States that are now party to the Refugee Convention and/or the Protocol, even though historically it has played a significant role in receiving refugees and in contributing to solutions. The author...
The Global Cop-Out on Refugees
The Refugee Compact and its companion Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) seek to address the major failing of the 1951 Refugee Convention to establish a common operational mechanism to ensure that protection burdens and responsibilities are fairly shared...
The Normative Impact of the Global Compact on Refugees Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen
This article examines how the Refugee Compact relates to existing international refugee law and discusses its normative implications. The author begins by identifying several common features of existing ‘compact’ instruments: (a) a focus on multi-stakeholder...
Refugees and (Other) Migrants: Will the Global Compacts Ensure Safe Flight and Onward Mobility for Refugees?
The article discusses the delineation between the Migration Compact and the Refugee Compact, and the implications for refugee mobility. The author argues that the suppression of refugee mobility is a serious deficit in the global protection regime. She contends that:...
The Unfinished Work of the Global Compact on Refugees
The author notes that the (non-binding) commitment in the Refugee Compact for additional funding does not come with conditions that host States guarantee refugee rights, and he argues that an emphasis on ‘national ownership’ of the refugee response may create problems...
The Global Compact on Refugees: Towards a Theory of Change?
This article argues that the Refugee Compact must have a clear-sighted theory of change on how to translate text into practice. The author distinguishes between obligations to refugees within a State’s jurisdiction as defined by law (‘asylum’), and commitments to...
Strengthening Responsibility Sharing with South–South Cooperation: China’s Role in the Global Compact on Refugees
China remains a major source of refugees and asylum seekers, and in the past 20 years it has also emerged as a destination and transit country. China has also started to demonstrate growing interest in influencing and leading international refugee affairs. The article...
Indicators for the Global Compact on Refugees
This brief article considers the kinds of indicators that might be appropriate to measure the implementation of the Refugee Compact, focusing on the compact’s fundamental principles “to operationalize the principles of burden- and responsibility-sharing to better...
The Global Compact on Refugees and Conflict Prevention in Africa: ‘Root Causes’ and Yet Another Divide
This brief article acknowledges that the Global Compact on Refugees may ameliorate refugee protection in Africa because its objectives—easing pressure on host countries, expanding third country solutions, enhanced refugee self-reliance and supporting conditions for...