The UNHCR and the Supervision of International Refugee Law

The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and its 1967 Protocol, and many other important international instruments recognize the unique role the UNHCR plays in protecting refugees and supervising international refugee law. This in-depth analysis of the UNHCR's supervisory role in the international refugee protection regime examines the part played by key institutions, organizations and actors in the supervision of international refugee law. It provides suggestions and recommendations on how the UNHCR's supervisory role can be strengthened to ensure greater State Parties' compliance to their obligations under these international refugee rights treaties, and contributes to enhancing the international protection of refugees and to the promotion of a democratic global governance of the international refugee protection regime.

Foreword David Dewitt; 1. Introduction: searching for ways to enhance the UNHCR's capacity to supervise international refugee law James C. Simeon; Part I. The Supervision of International Refuge Law and the UNHCR: 2. UNHCR's role in supervising international protection standards in the context of its mandate Volker Türk; 3. The limits to UNHCR's supervisory role Michael Barutciski; 4. UNHCR, the Refugee Convention and reforming the governance of the international refugee regime Martin Jones; 5. The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada's relationship with the UNHCR: a factor of international protection Brian Goodman; Part II. Judicial Experience in Supervising the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol: 6. The contribution of the judiciary to the protection of asylum seekers in the UK and the EU Nicholas Blake; 7. The impact of international law and domestic human rights law on Canada's judicial supervision of the 1951 Refugee Convention Russel Zinn and Benjamin N. Perryman; 8. Judicial experience with the Geneva Convention in Germany and Europe Harald Dörig; Part III. Other Public International Law Supervisory Models: Possible Reforms, Proposals, and Ideas for Supervising Protection Standards in the Context of Forced Displacement: 9. 'Peter Pan's fairies and genie bottles: the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies and supervision of the 1951 Convention' Alice Edwards; 10. Are there lessons for the Geneva Convention from the supervision of economic, social and cultural rights: UN and Council of Europe perspectives? Elspeth Guild and Claude Cahn; 11. Towards convergence in the interpretation of the Refugee Convention: a proposal for the establishment of an International Judicial Commission for Refugees Anthony M. North and Joyce Chia; 12. Identifying creative entry points for refugee protection: recent lessons from the Asia-Pacific region Vitit Muntarbhorn; Part IV. International Protection and Public Accountability: The Role of Civil Society: 13. International protection and public accountability: the roles of civil society Sriprapha Petcharamesree; 14. Supervision of the Refugee Convention: non-state actors Osamu Arakaki; 15. The NGO role in supervising the application of the Convention - and beyond Tom Clark; Part V. Conclusions: 16. Monitoring and supervising international refugee law: building the capacity to enhance international protection and democratic global governance of the international refugee protection regime James C. Simeon.

James C. Simeon is the Acting Director of the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) and an associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.