COVID-19 Border Closures: A Violation of Non-refoulement Obligations in International Refugee and Human Rights Law?

Abstract

Our objective within the short confines of this article, is to outline the legal issues that must be considered when determining whether COVID-19 border closures or travel restrictions are in violation of states’ non-refoulement obligations under international refugee and human rights law. We first outline states’ non-refoulement obligations under international refugee and human rights law (there are non-refoulement provisions in regional treaties but they are outside this article’s scope). We then consider the relationship between non-refoulement and other international law duties relating to protecting public health. Finally, we examine different types of COVID-19 travel restrictions and suggest that many are undoubtedly violations of non-refoulement but others raise unsettled questions of international law. Nevertheless, there is jurisprudence and scholarship to support the proposition that a state’s non-refoulement obligations can be triggered even in these more contested scenarios.

Keywords: COVID-19 border closures, international refugee law, international human rights law, non-refoulement obligations