Introduction

Abstract

The United Nations Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) is the most significant attempt at global responsibility sharing reform since the failed 1977 Conference on Territorial Asylum. Although there are no substantive obligations on states to share responsibilities in relation to refugees in the text of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention), cooperation, solidarity, and responsibility sharing are core principles of the refugee regime (Karageorgiou, 2019). The preamble to the Refugee Convention stipulates that, given the pressures refugee movements put on certain countries, displacement cannot be resolved without international cooperation. The concept of responsibility sharing is understood to entail a type of cooperation and joint action, the main goal of which is to alleviate pressure on states that are hosting large numbers of refugees, through measures such as resettlement and relocation, financial assistance, and capacity building with the view to ensuring effective protection to refugees (Dowd & McAdam, 2017).