Burden Sharing as an Effective Mechanism of Handling the Refugee Dilemma

Abstract

‘Refugee’ is one of the most contentious terms within the international human rights law. On one handsome scholars argue that one becomes a refugee immediately he/she meets the conditions of the 1951 convention, subject to the 1967 protocol and on the other hand others like Shaknove have advocated for the broadening of this term to include victims of environmental disasters and civil wars. However, this paper, considers a refugee along the definition lines of the 1951 UNHCR convention. This paper begins by exploring the different conceptions of burden sharing and traces the history of the practice. It explores the diverse strategies of informal burden sharing that have been employed in the past, before delving into strategies and options, both in law and practice. An attempt is made to examine the different ways in which a hybrid of burden sharing strategies can be utilized to guarantee the wellbeing of refugees.