This book presents the first comprehensive analysis of the human rights of refugees as set by the UN Refugee Convention. In an era where States are increasingly challenging the logic of simply assimilating refugees to their own citizens, questions are now being raised about whether refugees should be allowed to enjoy freedom of movement, to work, to access public welfare programs, or to be reunited with family members. Doubts have been expressed about the propriety of exempting refugees from visa and other immigration rules, and whether there is a duty to admit refugees at all. Hathaway links the standards of the UN Refugee Convention to key norms of international human rights law, and applies his analysis to the world's most difficult protection challenges. This is a critical resource for advocates, judges, and policymakers. It will also be a pioneering scholarly work for graduate students of international and human rights law.

'Hathaway, one of the leading experts of international law, has the intention to provide a truly comprehensive understanding of the refugee rights regime … The outcome is not only the most voluminous, but also the best book on the rights of refugees published until now. … If there is one book in the area of international refugee law of which it can be properly said that it is indispensable for everybody, working either in practice or academically with international refugee law, it is this new book by Hathaway. … The book reflects decades of careful academic work of the highest quality. It will remain for a long time the fundamental opus of international refugee law. … one will draw much profit from this book.'

Source: International Journal of Refugee Law

'In this remarkable study on the rights of refugees in international law, Professor James C. Hathaway provides timely illumination of the neglected and largely unknown territory which lies beyond the refugee definition set by Article 1 of the Convention. As he did in his earlier seminal text, The Law of Refugee Status (1991), Professor Hathaway charts the way forward to a dynamic and purposive interpretation of the Refugee Convention while remaining true to its text, object and purpose. No government official, refugee decision-maker or refugee advocate can conscientiously approach the Refugee Convention without this landmark text on refugee rights.'

Rodger Haines - QC, Deputy Chair, New Zealand Refugee Status Appeals Authority

'This book is a masterpiece, which meets a critical need. Professor Hathaway shows how each article of the 1951 Refugee Convention should be interpreted to take account of the main requirements of international human rights law. The result is a perfect symbiosis, a delicate and complex integration of two bodies of international law. It is anchored in actual practice, which the author subjects to progressive, but nonetheless clearly legally grounded, critique. The result is a comprehensive presentation of the whole corpus of rights owed to refugees and asylum-seekers at the different stages of their search for protection. It is urgent that all persons charged with the protection of persons in flight from persecution take their cue from Professor Hathaway's treatise.'

Luis Peral - Senior Research Fellow, Center for Constitutional Studies/FRIDE, Madrid

'Professor James Hathaway undoubtedly stands as the intellectual architect of contemporary refugee law. His analysis … has shaped the development of scholarship and the reasoning of judges across national jurisdictions, and at the highest judicial levels, including the House of Lords, the Supreme Court of Canada, and the High Court of Australia, among many others. He is a scholar of unparalleled depth, rigor, clarity and integrity.'

Deborah Anker - Harvard Law School

'Professor Hathaway's scholarly new work builds upon, and vindicates, his world-wide authority. It is encyclopaedic in its scope. … Hathaway's analysis is likely to be a necessary point of reference in any serious exposition, or development, of the law relating to refugees.'

Source: Australian Bar Review

'… this is a most valuable study, which is surprisingly affordable.'

Source: Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law

'Jim Hathaway is indisputably one of the most interesting and provocative scholars working on international refugee law today. Any book he writes in this field is of major importance.'

Philip Alston - Professor of Law, New York University

'Hathaway's analysis and his argument make s strong and convincing plea for greater understanding of both the mechanisms and the need for stronger implementation of refugee law. … students and scholars should read it. … it is an excellent resource on refugee and human rights law.'

Source: Human Rights Review