ABSTRACT
The international refugee regime is based on a strong and widely accepted ­normative framework – the 1951 Refugee Convention which has been supplemented by regional instruments, national laws and policies and almost 70 years of jurisprudence. The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the resulting exodus of refugees led European countries to begin establishing the norm that the international community has a responsibility to assist those who do not enjoy the protection of their national governments. During the 1960s, decolonization in Africa led to new movements of refugees and an expansion of United Nations agency – the high commissioner for refugees’s activities and its geographic scope. The whole international refugee regime, however, was established to respond to the needs of refugees once they have fled their countries – not to address the causes which provoked their flight. The main stressors on the international refugee regime have come from the policies of receiving countries in both the global north and south.
