Refugees and Rights

This collection focuses on refugees, victims of trafficking and others who cross borders seeking protection from anthropogenic or natural disasters. Essays cover a broad range of topics from the refugee’s rights to due process and the substance of entitlements at law to refugee rights in relation to disability and sexual orientation, and across fields such as administrative processes, social and cultural rights, family reunion, detention and the right of return. Articles also cover the rights discourse outside traditional ’Western’ theatres. This volume is a companion to Mary Crock’s volume, Migrants and Rights.

Forced migration is both as ancient as human life on earth and a relatively new subject of interest for human rights scholars. This volume continues the discussion from Migrants and Rights to focus attention on refugees, victims of trafficking and others who cross borders seeking protection from anthropogenic or natural disasters. The opening essays provide historical and conceptual overviews of rights to freedom of movement and asylum; and links between human rights and refugee law. Articles on the principle of non-refoulement in international law explore the occasional disjuncture between the individual’s right to protection and the State’s rights to protect its national interests. The refugee’s rights to due process and the substance of entitlements at law are explored in essays that range across administrative processes; social and cultural rights, including family reunion; detention; and the right of return. There follow four essays that address sexual orientation and refugee rights; refugees and disability rights; human rights and persons displaced by climate change disasters; and the rights of victims of human trafficking. The volume concludes with work reflecting on the rights discourse outside of traditional ’Western’ theatres. These cover Africa (Kenya), India, South America (Brazil) and the Asia-Pacific (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea).