Designing a New Global Refugee Protection System: Part 1 - System

Abstract

Our system addresses the unmaterialized state responsibilities promulgated in the 1951 Refugee Convention, as well as the failures of our current ad-hoc system: inhumanity, unpredictability, instability, inefficiency, inequity, lack of transparency, and unenforceability.

Proposal: We propose a new UN Protocol that seeks to establish a binding system of tradable refugee protection quotas. Quotas: Quotas allocate responsibilities to states to ensure Convention-granted refugee rights by contributing financially and/or through human responsibility sharing, but 20 percent of each state’s quota is non-tradable and must be materialized through human responsibility sharing.

Allocation: Quotas are allocated by an equation that accounts for states’ aggregated capacity to provide both human protection and financial contribution.

Trade: In order to optimize quota allocations, increase state autonomy, and strengthen refugee protection outcomes, states may trade for up to 80 percent quota relief through a centralized system.

Binding: In its end state, this system will be binding for all participating states through a UN Protocol.