Refugees fleeing War
Armed conflict has always been one of the major drivers of refugee movements globally. The need for protection as refugees for people fleeing war seems self-evident. However, international legal and policy frameworks are often ambivalent on whether or how war refugees qualify for protection.
This project addresses relevant legal and policy aspects of the relationship between war and refugees. They include: to what extent are people fleeing armed conflict eligible for international protection and on what basis; what is the role of IHL in protecting people fleeing armed conflicts, and how does it relate to international refugee law; how does the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) engage in providing protection and/or assistance to victims of forced displacement during armed conflicts; and what is the role of the ICRC in the creation of international standards and institutions for the protection of refugees and other displaced persons?
Key publications and other outputs
- D.J. Cantor, Comments to UNHCR on its Draft Guidelines on International Protection on claims to refugee status related to situations of armed violence and conflict (2016)
- D.J. Cantor and D. Trimiño ‘¿Una solución simple para los refugiados que huyen de la guerra? La definición ampliada de América Latina y su relación con el Derecho Internacional Humanitario’ (2015) XV Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional 165
- D.J. Cantor and J.F. Durieux (eds), Refuge from Inhumanity? Refugee Protection and the Laws of War (Nijhoff, 2014)
- D.J. Cantor, ‘The Laws of War and the Protection of “War Refugees”: Reflections on the Debate and its Future Directions’ (2014) 12(5) Journal of International Criminal Justice 931
- RLI, “Refuge from Inhumanity: Enriching Refugee Protection Standards through Recourse to International Humanitarian Law” (Conference Report, 2013)
- D.J. Cantor, ‘Does IHL Prohibit the Displacement of Civilians during War?’ (2012) 24 International Journal of Refugee Law 840
- D.J. Cantor, ‘Forced Displacement, the Law of International Armed Conflict, and State Authority’, in S. Juss (ed.) Research Companion to Migration Law, Theory and Policy (Ashgate, 2012)
- RLI, "The Role of the International Committee of the Red Cross with Respect to the Movement of Persons" (Workshop Report, 2012)
Key institutional activities
- RLI/Chatham House Workshop on “Refugee Protection and International Humanitarian Law” (Chatham House, London, 2015)
- RLI/UNHCR/ICRC Panel on “Refugee Law and International Humanitarian Law” (Geneva, Switzerland, 2015)
- RLI/CRS Workshops on “Armed Conflict, Generalised Violence and Asylum Law” (online, 2014)
- RLI/RSC Expert Conference on “Refuge from Inhumanity: Enriching Refugee Protection Standards through Recourse to International Humanitarian Law” (All Souls, Oxford, 11/12 February 2013)
- RLI Research Workshop on "The Role of the International Committee of the Red Cross with Respect to the Movement of Persons" (RLI, London, September 2011)
The ICRC workshop was supported through a Pump-Priming Grant (PI: Cantor) from the School of Advanced Study, University of London.