By: Oğuzhan Öztürk
This blog contribution draws upon a conference presentation given at the Fifth Annual Postgraduate Conference on International Law and Human Rights entitled ‘Conflict and Contestation in International Law’. The author’s attendance at the conference was facilitated with the aid of a generous conference attendance grant from the Netherlands Network of Human Rights Research (NNHRR).
Introduction
This year's Annual Postgraduate Conference on International Law and Human Rights theme focused on ‘Conflict and Contestation in International Law.’ A keynote address by Professor Christine Schwobel-Patel of the University of Warwick initiated the Conference. Professor Schwobel-Patel discussed International Law and the making and remaking of extractive frontiers, exemplified by Greenland, Gaza, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During this two-day event, 17 PhD Candidates from various parts of the world and jurisdictions presented their papers, primarily focusing on their PhD dissertations. Additionally, presenters received feedback and questions from leading scholars of the University of Liverpool and their peers.
During the conference, I presented a paper titled ‘Refugees as Actors of International Law.’ The paper is inspired by my PhD dissertation, titled ‘The Right to Protest of Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in International Law.’ I discussed how refugees have been emerging as actors of international law under three titles: (1) how the 1951 Refugee Convention depoliticizes refugees and international refugee law, (2) sharing examples of protests conducted by refugees and asylum-seekers since the early 2000s, and lastly, (3) how refugees have been emerging as actors of international law.
- Depoliticization of refugees and international refugee law
The depoliticization has been expressed by Professor Bhupinder S. Chimni in his famous article ‘The Geopolitics of Refugee Studies: A View from the South.’ Criticizing the practice of the ‘myth of difference’ between refugees from the First and Third Worlds, expressing that the positivist and depoliticized approaches have been applied to refugees from the Third World. In my research, I delved deeper to find answers to why the drafters of the Refugee Convention inserted the ‘non-political clause’ into Article 15 (right of association). This led me to research travaux préparatoires of the Convention. A year of research presented several historical events and incidents as the basis for depoliticization. They can be listed as follows: (1) the assassination of the Yugoslav King, Alexander the First, in Paris by foreigners in 1934, (2) major refugee movements across the globe, including armed refugees with fighting experiences, (3) maintaining the newly established peace after World War II, and (4) the beginning of the Cold War. All these issues were discussed and presented during the codification process, which resulted in depoliticizing the concept of refugees and refugeehood.
- Protests conducted by Asylum Seekers and Refugees
My research has shown that the number of protests conducted by refugees and asylum seekers since the early 2000s has increased. Several underlying reasons can be mentioned for protests: (1) mandatory and prolonged detention, (2) inhuman conditions in detention, and (3) demanding a fair refugee status determination process. Early examples can be given from Australia, in 2000 and 2002, around 200 asylum-seekers protested their mandatory detention in inhumane conditions. In the latter, 62 protesters sewed their lips. This was one of the earliest examples of self-harm protests by refugees.
In 2009 and again in 2016, the refugee camp in Calais, France, known as ‘The Jungle,’ witnessed protests by refugees. They demanded to be allowed to pass to the United Kingdom to seek asylum. However, they faced severe interventions. The mayor argued that refugees were not allowed to join the protests. Although refugees were afraid of deportation, they attended protests.
A similar attitude can be observed in refugee protests in Berlin between 2012 and 2014. An Iranian asylum-seeker, Mohammed Rashepar, committed suicide in a refugee camp, which triggered this protest movement. In German domestic law, refugees have limited rights to move within Germany. Asylum seekers are required to stay in the area where they apply for asylum until they are recognized as refugees. However, they disobeyed this rule and attended protests in Oranienplatz in Kreuzberg, Berlin. They occupied the OPlatz for almost two years to raise their voices and draw public attention to their conditions.
- Reclaiming their political identities and becoming actors
Despite the depoliticization that began with the beginning of the Cold War, refugees have raised their voices when it matters. Challenging domestic rules by claiming their rights as sourced from international law, refugees have emerged as one of the actors in international law. To do so, they are organizing protests within host States, demanding their rights and challenging the status quo of the post-World War II era. How do they claim their political identities?
Although their rights and freedoms have been limited within host States due to their legal status or lack thereof, they challenge these restrictions. In Berlin, asylum seekers disobeyed domestic rules to reclaim their political identities. Their rebellion enabled them to mobilize and occupy a symbolic location in Berlin, allowing them to negotiate with the authorities. Becoming a part of the negotiations was a clear example of reclaiming their political identities and emerging as actors of international law. Or in the Australian examples, their protests demonstrate that even in the highly controlled environments, such as the offshore detention centers, asylum-seekers can create an influence on politics regarding their lives. This emerging political agency is timely, aligning with the broader evolution of international law from a single-focused state-centric approach to a more comprehensive, human-centric approach.
Additionally, we must recognize that refugee rights are inextricably linked to human rights. Refugees’ rights may be codified under the Refugee Convention, which was drafted in a limited timeframe and following compromises in the bipolar world order. Yet, international and supranational human rights regimes have linked the refugee regime to the 21st century. While human rights regimes may allow refugees to participate in protests and political activities, States may still categorize these practices as threats and restrict them. In this case, refugees have asserted their rights to political participation and challenged the status quo by conducting protests. That is how refugees have become actors of international law, participating in protests and shaping state practices, which allow us today to discuss their rights to political participation.
Concluding this blog post, I would like to thank the Netherlands Network for Human Rights again for providing me with the Conference Attendance Grant, which enabled me to participate in this incredibly valuable event. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Robert Knox and Dr. Ben Murphy for their constructive comments on the paper.
Bio:
Oğuzhan Öztürk is a PhD candidate at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University, where they have been conducting research since January 2023. His PhD project examines the right to protest for refugees and asylum seekers under international law. He holds an LL.M. degree in International Law from the University of Amsterdam and an LL.B. degree from Atatürk University, Turkey. Prior to his research, he gained experience through various roles as an intern at the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor and a member of the Sakarya Bar Association in Turkey; and other internships in Turkey, one regarding refugees and Syrians under Temporary Protection at the Turkish Ministry of Interior, and another regarding international law and treaties at the Turkish Ministry of Justice.