From the editors
Public health and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) have rarely been as much in the spotlight as they have been since the global COVID-19 pandemic began in late 2019, making our main feature particularly timely. Although a number of articles…
Beyond Asian exceptionalism: refugee protection in non-signatory States
The number of refugees in the Asia Pacific is consistently high, with nearly 4.2 million cited in UNHCR’s most recent Global Trends.[1] Statistics show only part of the picture, however, because of large numbers of unregistered populations and because of…
Non-signatory States and the international refugee regime: introduction
The second feature in this issue focuses on non-signatory States and the international refugee regime, with authors examining the implications for protection when States are not signatories to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (and/or its 1967…
Refugees: A Very Short Introduction
Refugees: A Very Short Introduction by Gil Loescher This is a special book. Gil Loescher died on 28 April 2020. He was in the final stages of preparing the manuscript for this book, which he considered to be one of…
The challenges we face in a non-signatory country
After fleeing genocide in Myanmar in 2013, I became trapped in Indonesia. I had hoped to seek refuge in Australia but was confined to a hotel room for three months and then transferred to a detention centre where I was…
Advancing refugee rights in non-signatory States: the role of civil society in Thailand
Despite hosting refugees for decades, Thailand has never clearly granted refugees a legal right to reside in the country. Refugees arriving in Thailand in large numbers from neighbouring countries – such as Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees in the 1970s, or…
Bangladesh’s judicial encounter with the 1951 Refugee Convention
When it comes to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its application in Bangladesh in the context of the Rohingya refugee situation, most accounts will state something along the following lines: “Bangladesh has not ratified the Refugee Convention of 1951 or…
Non-signatory donor States and UNHCR: questions of funding and influence
As UNHCR has sought to plug an increasingly large gap between operating costs and donations, the agency has targeted new ‘growth markets’ for philanthropic and State-based funding, many of which are in wealthy non-signatory States. This has implications for how…