Unsung asylum: The law and practice of refugee hosting in communist and authoritarian states

Histories of refugee hosting in post-WWII Europe rarely focus on the Soviet region. This session seeks to address this gap by exploring ‘unsung’ refugee hosting in Central and Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on the hosting of Cold War refugees, including political refugees from capitalist countries, in communist Czechoslovakia. This focus on ‘unsung’ refugee hosting regions is complemented with an examination of current refugee hosting in Central Asia – another neglected refugee hosting region – particularly Kazakhstan. These historical and contemporary narratives of less known refugee hosting situations by communist/authoritarian regimes challenge common preconceptions about refugee hosting.

This session is part of the 15th International Refugee Law Seminar Series: Moments in Refugee History and the Development of the Modern Refugee Regime: Understanding refugee law and policy today

This seminar series probes key thematic issues relating to the law and policy of refugee protection today, using important – and often less-recognised – moments in refugee history to further our understandings of developments in these fields. 

By providing a forum for scholars of history and contemporary refugee law and policy to engage, the cross-disciplinary series will explore the enduring legacies of key geo-political events and processes such as nationalism, colonialism, and capitalism, in the evolution of the today’s refugee regime. 

This series is convened by the Refugee Law Initiative in collaboration with Refugee History.