Overview of exclusion, cessation and exceptions

The Refugees Convention sets out a number circumstances where the protection obligations by States towards refugees are limited or expunged. The duty of States to protect refugees is limited in seven broad circumstances. These are set out in the textbook, Migration and Refugee Law: Principles and Practice in Australia, in chapter 17.

As noted in chapter 17 of the textbook, the overarching rationale for the exceptions is either that the protection obligations to refugees only arise as a matter of last resort, or that a State's security interests trump its obligations to needy foreigners.

The circumstances in which a State meets its refugee obligations are relatively narrow and hence have not been discussed at length by the courts, with the main exception being the recent analysis of Article 1C(5). We now examine the sections that have been the subject of the most case analysis in greater detail.

Cessation: Article 1C

Article 1C relates to circumstances where a person who has been declared a refugee is no longer in need of protection due to changed circumstances. Article 1C is extracted in chapter 17 of the textbook.

Article 1C only becomes relevant in circumstances where a person has already been recognised as a refugee. The main situation where Article 1C becomes relevant is in relation to refugees who have been granted temporary protection visas whose visa has expired and who wish to apply for a further protection visa application. This potentially enlivens the scope of Article 1C(5).