Temporary Refuge From War: Customary International Law and the Syrian Conflict

Abstract

Abstract:The rule of temporary refuge forms the cornerstone of the response of states to large-scale influx of refugees. In the context of civilians fleeing armed conflict, this legal rule imposes a positive obligation on all states to admit and not to return anyone to a situation where there is a risk to life, and to provide basic rights commensurate with human dignity. Also implicit in the rule is the expectation of shared responsibility for large numbers of refugees and of international cooperation towards finding durable solutions. This article examines the customary international law of temporary refuge (also known as temporary protection) in relation to the Syrian conflict. It discusses implementation of the rule in the practice of three countries neighbouring Syria, and in the EU. It finds that the practice of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan has been consistent with the rule of temporary refuge. However, the EU has decided not to use the Temporary Protection Directive; instead individual member states have relied on the Refugee Convention and EU law, combined with various other measures not pertinent to temporary protection. It is concluded that shared responsibility is the linchpin of temporary refuge. Absent this keystone, the rule of temporary refuge is likely to continue to be implemented primarily in a regional context by those countries nearest to the country affected by the conflict, as in the case of Syria.

Enabling Value Co-Creation in Partner Collaboration Ecosystems: An Institutional Work Perspective

“…This feature also improves the traceability of the resources available in the network, making the entire transaction history of the assets available throughout its lifetime, improving accountability and trust, which is often a significant problem in the SC networks (Queiroz & Fosso Wamba, 2019). Many studies promote the use of advanced information technologies and automated IS design to improve information transparency and visibility in SCs for better collaboration, communication, and coordination (Lambert, 2017;Shaw et al, 2020;Stauffacher, 2021).…”

“…Literature suggests that while the number of crises is increasing everywhere in the world affecting SCs, various policies and approaches have been employed to facilitate the resilience of an SC (Fluri & Tagarev, 2020;Lambert, 2017;Stauffacher, 2021). It was widely acknowledged that advanced information technologies (IT) could help to manage the impact of crises more efficiently and unite the resources to withstand the consequences (Ivanov, 2020;Shaw et al, 2020).…”

Empirical Consequences of Normative Inadequacies: The Principle of Temporary Refuge and Protection Gaps

“…Initially described as a customary norm of temporary refuge (Perluss & Hartmann, 1986) it came to be used interchangeably with the term 'temporary protection' (Durieux, 2021), following the adoption of temporary protection regimes by states and embracement of this practice by the UNHCR (UNHCR, 2014). Despite a suggestion made by Ineli-Ciger that the term 'temporary protection' has replaced the notion of 'temporary refuge' (Ineli-Ciger, 2018: 3), I, similarly to Lambert (2017) use the latter term throughout this paper to emphasise the customary character of the principle. I also share Lambert's view that temporary protection regimes should be perceived rather as codifications of the principle of temporary refuge, that provide the protected individuals with a relevant status under domestic jurisdictions (Lambert, 2017: 745).…”

“…There is strong evidence in favour of the customary character of the principle of temporary refuge. Scholars have closely examined this evidence in light of the necessary elements of international custom (see, for instance, Perluss & Hartman, 1986;Hartman, 1988;Goodwin-Gill, 2014;Lambert, 2017), and it is thus unnecessary to retread this topic once again here. It is enough to state that the principle is widely accepted (with some sceptical voices pertaining to aspects of the principle, primarily Hathaway, 2010, critiqued in Goodwin-Gill, 2014) as a customary norm of international law.…”

Biomonitoring Environmental Exposure in Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

“…Lebanon has witnessed a massive influx of Syrian refugees since 2010, which was met with various challenges mainly due to the lack of preparedness of the hosting country, which had been suffering from an ongoing economic and political crisis for several years. Lebanon became the second largest Syrian refugee hosting country, after Turkey, in 2017, with over one million refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Compared to the Lebanese host population, Syrian refugees required more medical care, whereby around 60% of medical care needs of children were attributed to respiratory problems and the majority of medical care needs of adults were reported as infections and communicable diseases [ 4 ].…”