Refugees protection instruments

Refugees protection instruments

States are responsible for protecting the rights of their citizens. When governments are unable or unwilling to do this, people may face such serious threats that they are forced to leave their country and seek safety elsewhere.

If this happens, another country has to step in to ensure that the refugees’ basic rights are respected. This is known as “international protection”.

The 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol were designed to assure refugees the widest possible enjoyment of their rights. In order to respond to regional specificities, States in different parts of the world have developed regional laws and standards that complement the international refugee protection regime.

1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees 

1967 Optional Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees 

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 14) 

American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man (art. 27) 

American Convention on Human Rights (art. 22) 

Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, Colloquium on the International Protection of Refugees in Central America, Mexico and Panama (Cartagena Declaration

African [Banjul] Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (art. 12) 

OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of the Refugee Problem in Africa

Arab Charter on Human Rights (art. 28) 

Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (art. 12) 

European Convention on Human Rights (arts. 2, 3, and 5) 

Council Regulation EC No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third country national 

Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted 

Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (art. 3) 

African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa 

Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 22) 

IMAGE CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons / Magharebia [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]


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