Document Type

    Article

    Disciplines

    International Law

    Abstract

    There have always been refugees: people forced from their home countries by war, persecution, or other types of-violence and who must seek new homes and new lives abroad. But the world is now experiencing a crisis of a greater scope and severity than anything it has seen in decades. The ongoing refugee crisis has placed unprecedented strains on international, regional, and national institutions, and exacerbated longstanding tensions and unresolved questions in the global ftamework for refugee protection. The Connecticut Journal of International Law explored the issues and challenges faced by the refugee protection regime in its 2016 symposium, The Global Refugee Crisis, held at the University of Connecticut School ofLaw on April 15, 2016. Three panels ofscholars and practitioners addressed the following issues:

    Panel 1: Can effective steps be taken to address protracted refugcc situations and the root problems that cause refugee flows? With many refugees languishing in camps or unstable situations in nearby countries, how can the international community provide them with adequate support or help them find new homes? How can countries be incentivized to take in their fair share of refugees?

    Panel 2: How can states' interests in border protection and controlling mass migrations be reconciled with refugces' rights and protection needs? International law bars countries from returning refugees to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened. While some nations have responded generously, many countries have gone to great lengths to evade their obligations by preventing refugees from arriving in the first place.

    Panel 3: How should states manage the pressure to tighten eligibility standards, lessen procedural protections, or place higher burdens of proof on asylum -seekers when there is a large scale refugee flow? These mass refugee flows tend to heighten fears that asylum claims will be by persons that are really economic migrants, potential terrorists, or otherwise "unworthy."

    In addition to the three panels, a lunchtime keynote address by Mark Hetfield assessed the historical evolution, strengths and limitations of the Refugee Convention and the US. refugee resettlement program.

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