The Refugee Convention at Fifty: A View from Forced Migration Studies

The year 2001 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The Refugee Convention at Fifty is a commemorative volume, but it is one that points toward a future that will see a continued need for refugee protection. The volume performs a much-needed task for the current era: it carefully examines this key legal text, which impacts not only the law but also the politics and sociology of forced migration. Joanne van Selm and her coeditors have collected essays by scholars from a wide range of disciplines, NGO staff members, international organization professionals, and national-level policy makers who discuss the impact of this legal document on forced migrants, the states they migrate from and to, and the societies they join and leave behind. Sub-themes covered include the potential for solidarity between states in ensuring that legal and political commitments are upheld; regional approaches to refugee protection and displacement; and the human and social consequences of forced migration for those covered by, or excluded from, refugee protection. The geographic and disciplinary spread of the book is unparalleled, and The Refugee Convention at Fifty sets for the contentious and critical study of refugees the high standards for scholarship and innovative thinking that will serve as precedent for future policy making and implementation in the field.