Security in Refugee Movements

Our Research: Developing a Human Rights Response

The effort to elaborate the legal principles surrounding exclusion requires the examination issues in a range of legal disciplines—humanitarian, human rights, refugee and international criminal law. Human Rights First thus assembled a group of experts, specialists in each of the relevant fields, to guide the research phase of the project. This panel of experts met periodically to discuss the findings of the research and formulate of guidelines on the effective application of the exclusion clauses.

The first phase of the research consisted of an in-depth analysis of the application of the exclusion clauses in the context of the individual asylum determination procedures in place in developed countries, focusing on the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Belgium. The second phase of the research studied the application of the exclusion clauses in the context of the refugee crises in the Great Lakes and West Africa, reviewing the role of national authorities as well as international actors in dealing with questions of exclusion and security. The findings of Human Rights First teams in missions to the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania were compiled and analyzed.

The results of this research were published in a Special Supplementary Issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law. Articles in the Special Issue deal with national experiences of applying the exclusion clauses as well as examining the legal questions surrounding which crimes might trigger the application of the exclusion clauses and intricacies of showing criminal responsibility in an exclusion proceeding. It also contains articles which attempt to address the challenges of separating armed elements who may be ineligible for refugee status and who may threaten the safety of refugee camps. Finally, the Special Issue reproduces the findings of the Legal Advisory Group with respect to the core of our research: the development of guidelines for conducting exclusion procedures in a rights-respecting way.

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