International Registration and Coordination for Refugees - Literature review Example

CITIZEN GAP: LITERATURE REVIEW Name Tutor’s Name Institution City Date International Registration and Coordination for Refugees Introduction Two primary international treaties introduced Convention Travel Documents (CTDs) under the Nansen Passport tradition for refugees and stateless persons. The conventions include the 1951 Convention which focused on the Status of Refugees and the1954 Convention that focused on the status of stateless persons. Both conventions requires that the States that were contracting issue travel documents under articles 28 for the stateless persons and refugees lawfully residing within their territory to enable them travel outside (International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO], 2012, 3). The working paper for ICAO analyses the history of issuing travel documents for refugees and provides a foundation for analyzing the efficiency of the United Nations laissez-passer (UNLP or LP). The importance of the issuance of the UNLP is evident when considering the tragedy in Rwanda at the Kibeho camps as discussed by Kleine-Ahlbrandt (1998, 3). The author states that that the events that followed the tragedy constituted the protection and humanitarian needs for the IDPs through the international effort coordination persons accused of being guilty in the crimes against war, the criminal element screening, forcible return, and the required protection for the persons that had been internally displaced. Touzenis and Cholewinski (2009, 31) expresses the importance of issuing passports to refugees and stateless persons especially with regard to providing them with employment opportunities and protecting their rights. However, further measures should be taken to ensure that the passports are not confiscated by their employers. This paper argues that States should be mandated to issue all refugees with the UN passport to help protect their rights. It is essential for all persons to get secure legal identities and to access documents recognized nationally or internationally to show entitlement to the benefits and protection that their nationality grants. Some of the entitlements include a passport, the opportunity to access formal education, a job, an opportunity to get access to a public office and a vote. The informal sector may not require the documents but at some point everybody would need to gain access to the formal sector. Those who do not have access to the formal sector are blocked from many rights and privileges (Manby, 2015, 32). Convention Travel Documents (CTDs) Both the 1951 and the 1954 Conventions outline the detailed provisions for the CTDs. The systems of the conventions are regulatory on establishing a travel document that is unified for the stateless people and refugees when the Contracting States base it on reciprocal recognition. New standards previously not in the 1951 and 1954 Conventions are elaborated in Annex 9 (2005) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. The edition currently is use is Annex 9 (2005) and it stated that all travel document including passports and CTDs were to be machine readable by November 2015. The introduction of Machine Readable Convention Travel Documents (MRCTDs) reflects the need to address the rights of refugees and stateless persons. Non-MRCTDs have increasing challenges for the refugees and stateless persons mainly due to the difficulty to obtain visas and even if it were not required it could be difficult to enter other countries. The detailed provisions have the rationale in the 1551 and 1954 Conventions was to provide the refugees with a document that had uniformity, recognition and security regardless of issuing State in order to provide them the fundamental human rights and the right to leave their host countries or any other country. The same rationale is as well pursued by the ICAO’s travel document standards. The standards require that the respective travel documents increasing mutual trust, increasing security, and facilitating international travel. The development of the UN passport under the laissez-passer system would be required to be MRCTDs that would reduce the difficulties and impossibilities that are against the 1951 and 1954 Convention provisions. The issuance of the UN passports should be carried out in a manner that restricts identity and document fraud. MRTDs would protect the rights of the refugees better than Non-MRTDs because they are harder to forge or alter. The travel documents that are biometrically or electronically enabled are even safer. Any State that issues non-MRTD risks making them a target for counterfeit. Counterfeit CTDs could reduce confidence in them making it hard for the stateless persons and refugees to use them when the need to travel arises. Other challenges may, however, arise with the use of the non-MRTDs as the UN passport for the relevant States. For instance, CTDs are an integral part of the travel documents that are issued by States along with alien’s passports, service passports, diplomatic passports, emergency passports, and national passports. The travel documents and passports represent a country’s reputation, sovereignty, and authority. As such, the introduction of the unified UN passport could negatively affect the relevant States in terms of reputation (ICAO, 2012, 5). Kleine-Ahlbrandt (1998) states that the Kibeho tragedy, where according to the UN report approximately 2000 refugees lost their lives, underlined the necessity of governments and agencies to set guiding principles on the people who have been displaced. This was long before the MRTDs that could lead to the development of the UN passport had been suggested. The UN passport could have enabled the displaced people seek a safe residence where they are supplied with the basic human rights and necessities. Refugees require protection from the international community, which would oversee the manner in which they are treated. The report composed by Manby (2015, 5) on the 15 ECOWAS countries about migration, nationality and statelessness underscores the necessity of the UN to issue unified passports to all refugees and stateless persons under the laissez-passer system. It is essential for any individual to be in possession of a nationally or internationally recognized document that would enable them gain entitlement to the benefits and protection of the nationality in which they have moved to. The refugees often need to interact with the States in which they have moved to and, as such, they need documents to identify them just like the other citizens. Failure to be in possession of the documents would block the refugees and subject them to regular extortion by the police and migration officials. The using the laissez-passer system is challenging because the interrelationship between human rights and migration is complex. Migration entails a person crossing a frontier. The international human rights law specifies that any individual has the right to leave their own countries. However, the law does not give the individual the right to enter another country if the state has permitted them. The State can decide that an immigrant does not have the authorization to enter the country without conflicting with the provisions of the international human rights law. Still, the country has an obligation under the human rights law to observe and protect the migrant’s basic human rights such as against discrimination, forced labor, and degrading treatment whether the migrant’s entry was with or without authorization. Given the complex interrelationship, it is fair to suggest that the establishment of the UN passport would lead to the establishment of mechanisms that mitigate any misunderstandings by clearly defining who the refugees are and who the unauthorized migrants are. Using UN passports would as such secure the rights of the refugees because the States that they enter would have more trust in their presence. Goodwin-Gill (2014, 654) adds that the admission of refugees and asylum seekers to a particular country does not comprise their protection per se. It is only the starting point of their protection against the violation of their human rights. However, the refugees and asylum seekers do not have any internationally recognized right to have the formal permission to enter and to state in the particular State’s territory, not to be subjected to the risk of persecution, and to have their children educated. Still, that the individuals are protected and the States response to their entry is not just a matter of international concern but a matter of international law as well. The introduction of the UN passport would facilitate the international law’s enforcement of the State territories’ mandate to comply with their international obligations. The UN passport under the laissez-passer system would make the State territories have a positive approach when dealing with refugees. The positive approach would come from the benefits that the host country could accrue from the refugees. Any country can integrate the refugees to their economic circle by protecting their social rights. The approach would be centered on helping them integrate into the country to enhance development by preventing their social exclusion and marginalization. Part 3 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW) of 1990 could be more applicable in ensuring that the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination is implemented. ICRMW would improve the refugee’s social security and other basic social rights. State Parties would ensure that the migrants are not subjected to any form of discrimination that is based on nationality, ethnic or social origin, national, religion, language, color, race, sex, or any other status. In addition the migrants would have the right to leave any State and go back to their state of origin at any time as stated by Touzenis and Cholewinski (2009, 3). Further research still should be conducted to determine the effectiveness of issuing the UN passports to ensure that the rights of refugees are observed worldwide. The issuance of the UN passports under the laissez-passer system is not a guarantee to their safety. Researchers should as well study the extent to which the MRCTDs would be effective in addressing the rights of the refugees for the nations to accurately pursue the course of implementing and establishing them. The accuracy of the 1951 and 1954 Convention provisions should be researched further to for all nations to comply to their recommended improvements. Conclusion The protection of refugee’s human rights is paramount as stated in the 1951 Convention which focused on the Status of Refugees and the1954 Convention that focused on the status of Stateless persons. The importance of issuing passports to refugees and stateless persons regards to providing them with employment opportunities and protecting their rights. As such, it is fair to suggest that States should be mandated to issue all refugees with the UN passport to help protect their rights. The introduction of Machine Readable Convention Travel Documents (MRCTDs) would address the need to address the rights of refugees and stateless persons. Non-MRCTDs have increasing challenges for the refugees and stateless persons mainly due to the difficulty to obtain visas and even if it were not required it could be difficult to enter other countries. As such, it is safe to conclude that the development of the UN passport under the laissez-passer system would be required to be MRCTDs that would reduce the difficulties and impossibilities that are against the 1951 and 1954 Convention provisions. CTDs are an integral part of the travel documents that are issued by States along with alien’s passports, service passports, diplomatic passports, emergency passports, and national passports which would give rise to challenges. The UN should issue unified passports to all refugees and stateless persons under the laissez-passer system. The refugees often need to interact with the States in which they have moved to and, as such, they need documents to identify them just like the other citizens. Given the complex interrelationship between human rights and migration, it is fair to suggest that the establishment of the UN passport would lead to the establishment of mechanisms that mitigate any misunderstandings by clearly defining who the refugees are and who the unauthorized migrants are. The introduction of the UN passport would facilitate the international law’s enforcement of the State territories’ mandate to comply with their international obligations. The refugees would not subjected to any form of nationality, ethnic or social origin, national, religion, language, color, race, sex, or any other status’ discrimination. In addition the migrants would have the right to leave any State and go back to their state of origin at any time. References Goodwin-Gill, 2014. The dynamic of international refugee law. International Journal of Refugee Law 25(4) 651–666. International Civil Aviation Organization, 2012. Convention travel document (CTD) standards. Accessed at http://www.icao.int/Meetings/TAG-MRTD/Documents/Tag-Mrtd-21/TagMrtd21-Report.pdf Kleine-Ahlbrandt, S. T. E., 1998. The Kibeho crisis: Towards a more effective system of international protection for IDPs. Forced Migration Review. Accessed at http://www.fmreview.org/sites/fmr/files/FMRdownloads/en/FMRpdfs/FMR02/fmr202.pdf Manby, 2015. Nationality, migration and statelessness in West Africa. The UN Refugee Agency and Interntional Organization for Migration. Touzenis and Cholewinski, 2009. The human rights of migrants. International Journal on Multicultural Societies (IJMS), 11(1), 1-18. 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