To What Extent Have UNHCR's RSD Procedures been an Effective and Fair Essay

To What Extent Have UNHCR's RSD Procedures been an Effective and Fair Tool in the Refugee Decision-making Process - Essay Example The United Nations High Commission on Refugees is reposed with the dual task of both ensuring the protection of refugees and reducing their vulnerabilities, whilst at the same time being charged with the role of refugee decision-maker in Refugee Status Determination (RSD) procedures, when individual States renege on this role. This duality of roles – protector and decision-maker – has been theorized to lead to quantifiable adverse effects on the refugees themselves. This is particularly problematic in light of the particular vulnerabilities that refugees already face, simply by being refugees. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union: Refugees have been the targets of violent attacks and intimidation, largely because they were perceived as â€Å"different† from the communities in which they had temporarily settled. Tensions between refugees and local populations have erupted when refugees were seen as competitors for natural and economic resources. Armed combat ants have been allowed to mingle freely with--and intimidate with seeming impunity--the civilians who sought safety in refugee camps and settlements. And, increasingly, governments have resorted to detention of illegal entrants, including women and children, many of whom are seeking asylum. Given this, it is imperative to craft an international legal framework that ensures an adequate standard of protection for the refugees. Indeed, the trend must be to heighten protections and reduce impediments to the full exercise of their rights. If the legal regime that covers refugee protection and selection results in outcomes that are contrary to the interests of refugees, then indeed it must be subjected to critical examination. II. Statement of Aims This paper intends to conduct an exploratory analysis on whether the existing legal framework that grants the dual mandate of the UNHCR and sets down its RSD procedures has led to inequitable outcomes for the refugees. By â€Å"inequitableâ₠¬ , this paper means either of two things (1) that, as a result of the legal framework, an individual that would otherwise have been granted refugee status under a more liberal contemplation, would be denied such status; (2) an individual granted refugee status would be given less protections than would otherwise have granted under a more liberal contemplation. Is the UNHCR deviating from its palliative protective role, and transforming into a refugee problem solver for the individual states, or even worse, as an enforcement mechanism for donor states’ policies of containment and exclusion? This preliminary proposal aims to analyze in depth the accountability of UNHCR’s RSD practices and the ethical issues arising from its additional role as one of the largest refugee decision-makers in the world. III. Research question and hypothesis This paper is guided by the following research question: To what extent have the UNHCR’s RSD procedures been an effective and fa ir tool in the refugee decision-making process, considering its dual role as a refugee protector and refugee decision-maker? To this end, the following sub-questions are likewise proposed: a. What are the concrete areas of tension between the UNHCR’s role as a refugee protector, and its role as decision-maker? b. What, if any, are the gaps in the RSD procedures, examined vis a vis the mandate of the UNHCR and existing International Law and International Humanitarian Law Conventions? c. Using as basis