ABSTRACT

This chapter provides an overview of protection developments and activities in the three East Asian State Parties, namely, Japan, South Korea and China, to the Refugee Convention and Protocol. These State Parties represent a variety of economic, legal, political, social and cultural systems and have adopted a range of refugee policies that fall along a broad protection spectrum. One end of the spectrum includes States that have enacted full-fledged refugee laws, conduct State-run refugee status determination (RSD) subject to judicial review by independent courts and offer at least minimal reception conditions including the right to work for asylum seekers and recognized refugees. The chapter illustrates the value of the international refugee protection instruments through a discussion of legal and policy developments in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. It demonstrates the impact of the Refugee Convention on the development of States' policies toward refugees, even in light of rapid developments in international human rights law since 1951.