Unfolding Africa's Impact on the Development of International Refugee Law

Palacios-Arapiles, Sara

Abstract

This article traces the contributions of African states to the development of international refugee law and explores the role African human rights supervisory bodies have played in the interpretation and application of this field of law. While Africa's contributions to international refugee law are often overlooked, this article sets out to identify Africa's involvement in the drafting process of the UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. It also explores the legal framework for refugees in Africa, in particular the OAU Refugee Convention and the Bangkok Principles on Status and Treatment of Refugees, and the extent to which these two instruments have enriched international refugee law. The article argues that some of their provisions may provide evidence of customary rules of international law. Lastly, it examines some of the authoritative pronouncements made by African human rights supervisory bodies, in so far as they adopt a progressive approach to interpreting the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 12, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Mar 17, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-05
• Deposit Date: May 24, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: May 24, 2021
• Journal: Journal of African Law
• Print ISSN: 0021-8553
• Electronic ISSN: 1464-3731
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 65
• Issue: S1
• Pages: 9-33
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021855321000036
• Keywords: Law
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5569431
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-law/article/unfolding-africas-impact-on-the-development-of-international-refugee-law/4E89F4CA1D226C20A14A5CEDD932753E
• Additional Information: Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London; License: This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.; Free to read: This content has been made available to all.