The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol

The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees adopted on 28 July 1951 in Geneva continues to provide the most comprehensive codification of the rights of refugees yet attempted. Consolidating previous international instruments relating to refugees, the 1951 Convention with its 1967 Protocol marks a cornerstone in the development of international refugee law. At present, there are 149 States Parties to one or both of these instruments, expressing a worldwide consensus on the definition of the term refugee and the fundamental rights to be granted to refugees. These facts demonstrate and underline the extraordinary significance of these instruments as the indispensable legal basis of international refugee law. This Commentary provides for a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol on an article-by-article basis, exposing the interrelationship between the different articles and discussing the latest developments in international refugee law. In addition, several thematic contributions analyse questions of international refugee law which are of general significance, such as regional developments, the interrelationship between refugee law and general human rights law, as well as the relationship between refugee law and the law of the sea.

1 - Historical Development of International Refugee Law
2 - Drafting History of the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol
3 - Interpretation of the 1951 Convention
4 - Global Developments in Refugee Law
5 - Regional Developments: Europe
6 - Regional Developments: Asia
7 - Regional developments: Africa
8 - Regional developments: Americas
9 - Preamble to the 1951 Convention
10 - Preamble to the 1967 Protocol
11 - Final Act
12 - Art. 1 A, para. 1 1951 Convention
13 - Art. 1 A, para. 2 1951 Convention
14 - Art. 1 B 1951 Convention
15 - Art. 1 C 1951 Convention
16 - Art. 1 D 1951 Convention
17 - Art. 1 E 1951 Convention
18 - Art. 1 F 1951 Convention
19 - Art. 1 1967 Protocol
20 - Art. 2 1951 Convention
21 - Art. 3 1951 Convention
22 - Art. 4 1951 Convention
23 - Art. 5 1951 Convention
24 - Art. 6 1951 Convention
25 - Art. 7 1951 Convention
26 - Art. 8 1951 Convention
27 - Art. 9 1951 Convention
28 - Art. 10 1951 Convention
29 - Art. 11 1951 Convention
30 - Refugee Determination Procedures
31 - Refugees at Sea
32 - Diplomatic Asylum
33 - Art. 12 1951 Convention
34 - Art. 13 1951 Convention
35 - Art. 14 1951 Convention
36 - Art. 15 1951 Convention
37 - Art. 16 1951 Convention
38 - Art. 17 1951 Convention
39 - Art. 18 1951 Convention
40 - Art. 19 1951 Convention
41 - Art. 20 1951 Convention
42 - Art. 21 1951 Convention
43 - Art. 22 1951 Convention
44 - Art. 23 1951 Convention
45 - Art. 24 1951 Convention
46 - Art. 25 1951 Convention
47 - Art. 26 1951 Convention
48 - Art. 27 1951 Convention
49 - Art. 28/Schedule
50 - Art. 29 1951 Convention
51 - Art. 30 1951 Convention
52 - Art. 31 1951 Convention
53 - Art. 32 1951 Convention
54 - Art. 33, para. 1 1951 Convention
55 - Art. 33, para. 2 1951 Convention
56 - Art. 34 1951 Convention
57 - Art. 35 1951 Convention/Article II 1967 Protocol
58 - Art. 36 1951 Convention/Article III 1967 Protocol, Marjoleine Zieck59:Art. 37 1951 Convention
60 - Art. 38 1951 Convention/Article IV 1967 Protocol
61 - Art. 39 1951 Convention/Article V 1967 Protocol
62 - Art. 40 1951 Convention
63 - Art. 41 1951 Convention/Article VI 1967 Protocol
64 - Art. 42 1951 Convention/Article VII 1967 Protocol
65 - Art. 43 1951 Convention/Article VIII 1967 Protocol
66 - Art. 44 1951 Convention/Article IX 1967 Protocol
67 - Art. 45 1951 Convention
68 - Art. 46 1951 Convention/Article X 1967 Protocol
69 - Testemonium 1951 Convention/Article XI 1967 Protocol

Professor Andreas Zimmermann is Professor of Law, University of Potsdam and Director of the Potsdam Centre of Human Rights; Dr. jur. (Heidelberg), LL.M. (Harvard); former Member of the German delegation to the Preparatory Committee and the United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, and of the UN Human Rights Committee; member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration; counsel in various cases before the ICJ; former judge ad hoc at the European Court of Human Rights; arbitrator under the annex to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties; member of the advisory board on international law of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs; co-editor, inter alia, of The Statute of the International Court of Justice: A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 2019). Professor Terje Einarsen is Professor of Law at University of Bergen (Norway) and Senior Research Associate, SOAS University of London. He holds a Ph.D. (Dr Juris) from the University of Bergen and a master's degree (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School. He is also a lawyer and member of the Norwegian Bar Association with permanent permission to appear before the Supreme Court. Einarsen was formerly a judge for ten years at the general Gulating High Court for the Western parts of Norway, and Head of the Human Rights Committee, Norwegian Judges' Association. He has also served as a permanent member of the Grand Chamber, Immigration Board of Appeals. He is chairperson of International Commission of Jurists, the Norwegian section (ICJ Norway) since 2018. Franziska M. Herrmann is a PhD candidate at the University of Potsdam, working in the context of the Berlin Potsdam Research Group "The International Rule of Law - Rise or Decline?". She studied law at the University of Potsdam and Bergen and holds a Bachelor of Law, as well as the German First State Examination.