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Abstract
Africa’s expanded refugee definition – Article I(2) of the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (1969 African Refugee Convention, or 1969 Convention) – provides the legal basis of protection for a significant number of the world’s refugees, a gateway to a host of rights aimed at protecting refugees from future harm and preserving their dignity until a durable solution can be found. The expansive nature of the African definition has also seen it praised for being more humanitarian, more reflective of current causes of displacement and an exemplar for the development of refugee protection regimes elsewhere. Despite this, the scope of the definition and the meaning of its terms remain poorly understood in both scholarship and practice. Previous attempts to interpret the definition have been largely superficial and, at times, inconsistent with international law principles of treaty interpretation. The dearth of rigorous and critical analysis of the definition’s terms undermines its implementation in practice, potentially risking the lives and security of those entitled to protection as refugees in Africa.
This thesis presents the first comprehensive analysis of the scope of Africa’s expanded refugee definition. It argues that the definition should be interpreted and applied in a principled manner – that is, in accordance with established international law principles of treaty interpretation. Interpreting the definition in this way is crucial to ensuring clarity in its scope, consistency in its application within refugee status determination procedures, and compliance by states parties to the 1969 Convention with their refugee protection obligations under the Convention as a whole.
Based on a detailed analysis of international law principles of on treaty interpretation, and informed by the author’s own field research, this thesis elucidates and addresses some of the critical questions that arise in the interpretation and practical application of Africa’s expanded refugee definition. These include: whether the definition is ‘objective’, focusing only on conditions in the country of origin, or also requires consideration of the individual refugee’s ‘subjective’ circumstances; whether it extends to displaced persons not traditionally thought to be refugees, such as those fleeing environmental or economic harms; and whether it applies to refugees coming from outside of Africa itself.
By combining established principles of treaty interpretation with real world examples, this thesis demonstrates that a principled interpretation of the definition’s terms is crucial ensuring that the expansive protection it envisages is realised for refugees in practice.