ABSTRACT
UNHCR was established by states to serve two core purposes: (1) to
ensure the international protection of refugees; and (2) to find a solu-
tion to their plight. To carry out these responsibilities, the Office pri-
marily relies on the authority of a number of core instruments,
including UNHCR’s Statute, the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Pro-
tocol. While adherence to these core instruments is essential to the
work of UNHCR, they have been under considerable strain in recent
years. A growing number of states, in both the North and South, have questioned the continued relevance of these core instruments, espe-
cially the 1951 Convention. Critics have argued that the 1951 Con-
vention is Euro-centric, inflexible, outdated, and not capable of
addressing the complexities of today’s global refugee crisis. States now
point to a number of contemporary challenges left unaddressed by the
1951 Convention, such as the changing nature of asylum, the mixing
of asylum seekers and economic migrants, the range of security con-
cerns associated with refugee movements, the costs to states associated with granting asylum, and the growing scale and globalization of the
problem of forced migrants. In contrast, supporters of the 1951 Con-
vention, including UNHCR, argue that while the Convention is not
perfect, it continues to provide an important and legitimate founda-
tion for the international refugee protection regime.
