RT Article
T1 Refugees, displacement and territorial stability
JF Journal of global ethics
VO 16
IS 2
SP 162
OP 181
A1 Sandelind, Clara
LA English
PB Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
YR 2020
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1739154002
AB What is special about refugees? In this paper, I argue that the two main accounts of who should count as a refugee have major shortcomings. The first, based on protection from persecution, is too narrow, as it excludes many people who have to flee their homes for other reasons than persecution. The second, based on the protection of human rights, overcomes this problem, but at the expense of a narrow view of refugee protection, which only amounts to the protection of fundamental human rights. By developing a territorial account of refugeehood, which builds on the human rights account, I propose that what is special about refugees is the harm of displacement. The conceptual implication is a grounding of states’ duties towards refugees in the legitimacy of their territorial rights. The practical implication is a strong critique of temporary forms of protection. To redress the harm of displacement, a territorial account holds, refugee protection must offer territorial stability, ultimately through a pathway to citizenship. I thus show how it is possible to marry the human rights account of refugees with a notion of refugee protection as membership in a new state.
K1 Refugees
K1 Asylum
K1 Citizenship
K1 Human Rights
K1 Territory
DO 10.1080/17449626.2020.1784250