(c) 1999 Corinne Dufka/Human Rights Watch

Protecting refugees is a core human rights issue. At the center of the international refugee regime is the fundamental right of any individual to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries. Enshrined in article 14 (1) of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the principle of asylum recognizes that when all other forms of human rights protection have failed, individuals must be able to leave their country freely and seek refuge elsewhere. The availability of asylum can literally be a matter of life or death for those at risk of persecution or abuse. Most refugees and displaced persons flee their homes because of precisely the same conflicts, persecution, and human rights abuses that Human Rights Watch reports on extensively in the course of its monitoring worldwide. In its efforts to bring an end to human rights violations, to eliminate the root causes of conflicts and to limit their brutality, Human Rights Watch also seeks to address the root causes of refugee and forced migration flows. At the same time, while such violations persist, Human Rights Watch also calls on governments everywhere to uphold their obligations towards protecting refugees and internally displaced persons, regardless of where they are from or where they seek refuge.

Unlike most other areas of human rights where it is possible to chart progress over the last decades, states have largely regressed in their commitment towards protecting refugees over the past fifty years. The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) was one of the first major human rights instruments to be established after the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While it clearly had shortcomings, not least in failing to incorporate an explicit right to seek and enjoy asylum, the Refugee Convention nevertheless reflected states' sense of responsibility and moral obligation towards protecting refugees in the aftermath of the second world war. Today many states are failing to uphold their obligations under the Refugee Convention, while some countries, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, have still not ratified the convention.