A significant opening
On the HRC’s groundbreaking first ruling in the case of a ‘climate refugee’
The Human Rights Committee (HRC) has just added to the many important international legal developments of the young decade and issued its first ruling on the case of a “climate refugee”, i.e. a person fleeing their home country because of the effects of climate change. This post analyses the groundbreaking ruling which increases the pressure on states to take action against climate change and explains its significance (see the full …
In dubio contra bellum
Why the prohibition to use force will survive Turkey’s operation Peace Spring
What does Turkey’s operation “Peace Spring” against Kurdish militias in Northern Syria and the subsequent reactions of the international community mean for the prohibition on the use of force? “The right to self-defence may be regarded as broadened now,” some fear (e.g. here). But can the law regulating the use of force in international relations change so easily in the face of this intervention and careful reactions of the international …
Us & them
On xenophobic policies and human rights
On 21 May 2019, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe published a report following her visit to Hungary from 4 to 8 February 2019. The report inter alia deals with the human rights situation of migrants and refugees in Hungary and discusses five points in this regard: inaccessibility of protection, violence and ill-treatment in connection with removals from the territory, detentions, treatment of unaccompanied minors under …
“Give me your money, you tired, poor and huddled masses!”
On the introduction of application fees in U.S. asylum law
On 29 April 2019, the President of the United States of America ordered new restrictions on asylum seekers. The restrictions include a fee for asylum applications. This BOFAX reflects on such a fee against the backdrop of the United States’ obligations under international refugee law, especially the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (1967 Protocol) to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The President of the U.S. gave the order …