INTRODUCTION

History is repelete with tales of mass expulsions. For centuries, these expulsions have been tolerated – “condemned only sporadically, while repeatedly being undertaken with international acquiescence, indifference, or approval.” It was only with the pervasive mass expulsions forced by the Nazi regime in the period leading up to, and during, World War II that international attitudes began to shift. The Nazi-era experiences prompted international consideration of the plight of refugees, and gave birth to a comprehensive and multilateral attempt to clarify international and state responsibilities toward transboundary refugees fleeing state turmoil.

Under the auspices of the United Nations, the international community codified a series of treaties setting out state responsibilities regarding the duty to care for refugees. These agreements start from the proposition that war and internal strife will occur, and will necessarily result in involuntary migrations. The agreements also assume that under conditions of scarcity, such migrations will invariably pose complex problems in the land of refuge. Nonetheless, through these treaty regimes, the international community has largely accepted that the “unduly heavy burden” of caring for refugees rests primarily on the refuge state and secondarily upon the international community as a whole.

In the latter part of the twentieth century, political upheavals again created large-scale refugee populations. Refuge states began to balk at their increasingly expensive duties towards refugees under these regimes, at least in part because meeting those duties diverted funds from more domestic concerns.