Problematizing the Protection of 'War Refugees

Why has the plight of “war refugees” been problematized? The Handbook of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees describes them as “special cases”. Neither International Refugee Law nor International Humanitarian Law finds a happy home for them. Article 15(c) of the European Union Qualification Directive 2004/83/EC, denotes them in a way that one commentator has described as “nonsensical”. “War refugees” languish precisely when their numbers increase in Afghanistan, Iraq to Syria. Yet, the international community provides at best muted protection for them. There is consequently complete and utter confusion over key questions, such as how “armed conflict” is defined’? Whether, “indiscriminate violence” is proven by its intensity, the frequency of its attacks, or its cumulative effects? Or, what should be the basis for “individual threat” to civilian life? This Essay argues that if there is any hope of achieving the “minimum standards” of “international protection” which the Qualification Directive envisages, it lies in focusing on communities that are “imperilled by endemic violence”

Confusion · Directive · International community · International humanitarian law · International law · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · International Law and Human Rights · Psychology · Law