The Rights of Refugees: Protection under International Law

Although people's transboundary movement began a long time ago, it took the dawn of the 21st century to have definitive legal and political consequences. International migration should reasonably be regarded as historical. People have migrated since the days of the nation-states. Over the years, the reasons for migration have undoubtedly changed, but the phenomenon is still alive. Thus, it may be said that cross-border human movement is part of the collective, universal human experience. In line with this sentiment, the human rights approach is also appropriately fitting to deal with such human experience. Although human rights concern in the past have effectively been denied access to a global dialogue on refugees on the mistaken premise that the refugee problem is very distinct from a human rights problem, today the trend is to integrate Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law into Refugee Legislation. The burgeoning awareness of the number, size, and nature of the refugee crisis has led the policymakers to shift their focus from the erstwhile policies on safety and welfare of refugees, which were developed after the Second World War, towards a more contemporary solution-based approach to the Refugee Problem. Refugee legislation is one of the institutional structures that can be applied concurrently in the context of armed conflict. Refugee rights are part and parcel of human rights.