Talk by Dr Cathryn Costello: Dividing Refugees from (Other) Migrants

As part of a research visit to the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo in March 2019 Cathryn Costello delivered a talk on The Global Compacts, IO Mandate Competition and Recognition Processes.

This talk examined the division between refugees and (other) migrants in three contexts. While Professor Costello is not suggesting that the particular legal and political status of refugees should be undermined, she argues that the division is often problematic for refugees, who often face additional mobility barriers and difficulties securing recognition of their status, and for migrants who may also have international protection needs.

First, she considered the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The Compacts assume certain categorical distinctions between refugees and migrants, which are more fluid than they imagine.

Secondly, she examined the role of the refugee / migrant bifurcation in the practice of international organisations, in particular in the role of UNHCR and the IOM.

Thirdly, she discussed the institutional practices that seek to distinguish refugees from migrants, which ought to be subject to much greater scrutiny by those who would defend refugee privilege in a world of migrant Control.

Finally, having problematized the bifurcation, this piece suggests a constructive way forward. The Compacts are replete with promise, and their loose and programmatic approach means that it will be in their implementation that change (if any) emerges. This offer a constructive reading, emphasizing harm reduction and the overarching concept of international protection.

Professor Costello’s collaboration with the Norweigan Centre for Human Rights will continue as she has recently been appointed as a part-time visiting Professor.  

Cathryn will be developing research with Professor Maja Janmyr, Professor in International Migration Law. Professor Janmyr is author of the book Protecting Civilians in Refugee Camps: Unwilling and Unable States, UNHCR and International Responsibility (2014). Her current research focuses on refugee rights in the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on the situation of Syrian and Sudanese refugees and migrants in Lebanon. Professor Janmyr is a member of the RefMig Advisory Board and they plan further collaboration on refugee protection in states that have not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention.