ABSTRACT
Such geographical variations in the definition of who is a refugee stand as an initial warning of the lack of robustness of the category, and the potential for confusion. Indeed, there have been attempts both to narrow and to widen the definition of refugees. States in both the North and, increasingly, the South, have sought to justify more restrictive immigration policies, by cracking down on those they label as ‘bogus’ asylum seekers. The result has been a progressive narrowing of practical applications of the refugee definition, with a parallel reduction in the number of refugees reported by UNHCR compared to the 1990s.
