International Law and Human Rights: Trends concerning International Migrants and Refugees

Abstract

Notwithstanding human rights linkages, migrants and refugees are often on the periphery of effective international protection. State sovereignty and self-regarding notions of community are used to deny or dilute substantive and procedural guarantees. Recently, even nondiscrimination as a fundamental principle has been questioned, as has the system of refugee protection. This article locates both migrants and refugees squarely within the human rights context, contrasting inalienable rights with the demands of sovereignty, and juxtaposing the two in a context of existing and developing international standards. Migration and refugee flows will go on, and the developed world, in particular, must address the consequences — legal, humanitarian, socioeconomic and cultural. Racism and institutionalized denials of basic rights daily challenge the common interest. This article shows how the law must evolve, responding coherently to contemporary problems, if the structure of rights and freedoms is to be maintained.