Switzerland and the International Protection of Refugees and Ep

The present volume highlights the new challenges of the internationalprotection of refugees fifty years after the adoption of the 1951 GenevaConvention relating... » 

The present volume highlights the new challenges of the internationalprotection of refugees fifty years after the adoption of the 1951 GenevaConvention relating to the Status of Refugees.Focusing on the problems faced by Switzerland in the field of internationalprotection of refugees as well as on the specificity of its asylum law andpractice this publication addresses the refugee problem from a nationalEuropean and international perspective. The Swiss experience serves toillustrate the wider problematic of on the one hand the tensions betweensecurity political and humanitarian concerns encountered by refugeereceivingstates and on the other the need to preserve an international refugeeprotection regime which remains an essential component of international law andrelations for so long as political solutions are not brought to the root causesof refugee exodus.This reflection on the international protection of refugees is organized aroundfour main themes. The first examines Switzerlands response in the past to massinflux in the light of historical case studies and the evolution of Swissasylum law and practice.The second focuses on the question of access ofrefugees to asylum territories and refugee status determination procedureswithin the framework of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and thecurrent Swiss asylum law. The third centres on the wider protection regimecurrently being forged in Europe to address a broader category of refugeesincluding solutions for temporary and subsidiary protection. The final themerevolves around return of refugees including those under the Dayton and recentKosovo agreements and covers reintegration ofreturnees assistance and longterm development.This work is based on papers presented at a colloquium of the GraduateInstitute of the International Studies in Geneva which was organised incollaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner forRefugee «