Creating Legitimate Refugees: Examining International Cooperation on Refugees in Light of the Absence of an International Protection Regime for Migrants

Today an international protection regime for refugees fleeing from humanitarian threats such as conflict or political prosecution exists. On the other hand, international cooperation on other groups of migrants focuses only on the migration-development nexus and does not provide for their protection. Providing a historical examination of how international cooperation on migrants and refugees evolved since the 1950s, the paper will show how this led to refugees being protected by international law, while coming to dismiss other forms of hardship like poverty as grounds for admission and leaving all other groups of migrants to the discretion of host countries. It will then argue that this focus on refugees legitimized the lack of a more comprehensive international regime for the protection of migrants and enabled governments to justify tougher immigration policies. It will also outline the negative effects on refugees themselves by restricting their onward movement and economic empowerment.