![]() Though UNHCR at times attempted to influence government policy, its efforts were often met with limited success. It is worth noting that Turkey maintains a geographical limitation to the 1951 Refugee Convention (whereby only Europeans are eligible for refugee status). For example, with the influx of Iraqi Kurds into Turkey in 1988, UNHCR requested, but was denied, access to the areas in which the refugees were encamped. ![]() Refugee-producing countries and domestic audiences often fail to recognise that UNHCR may be highly constrained. Delegating responsibility for RSD also gives a government a degree of flexibility it can detain or expel individuals under the pretext that it did not grant them refugee status itself in the first place. By contrast, UNHCR’s independence gives it the appearance of neutrality, enabling governments to assert that decisions were not theirs to make. By recognising Sudanese refugees, the Egyptian government would be indirectly criticising the Sudanese government for its role in atrocities in Sudan. Indeed, in a 2010 interview, a Foreign Ministry official indicated that setting up a national asylum system for “40,000 is not a resource problem” but that RSD conducted by UNHCR “ensure objectivity and integrity.” Some observers, however, have attributed the Egyptian government’s reluctance to conduct RSD itself to the large number of Sudanese in the country. For example, the Egyptian government’s reluctance to take control of RSD may appear puzzling in light of the relatively small number of refugees in that country prior to the Syrian crisis. In effect, delegating RSD allows governments to lay responsibility for decisions at UNHCR’s door. Ĭlaiming that a neutral third party, like UNHCR, is responsible for refugee policy eases pressure on governments. And the Kenyan government transferred RSD to UNHCR in 1991, and then assumed full responsibility again in 2017. UNHCR’s RSD operations in Turkey, dating back to 1960, were fully handed over to the government in 2018. UNHCR has long conducted RSD for all non-Palestinian asylum seekers in Egypt under a 1954 MoU. This article draws on archival research relating to Egypt, Kenya and Turkey to explore the potential consequences of UNHCR’s involvement in RSD procedures in a country’s territory. In 2018, UNHCR had sole responsibility for RSD in 47 countries or territories, and shared some responsibility for RSD with the national government in 14 others. Or UNHCR may be placed in charge of all RSD procedures on a country’s territory. Alternatively, UNHCR may conduct an independent process that operates in parallel to government-run RSD. UNHCR may be involved in one or more stages (registration, interviews, decisions or appeals) of an otherwise government-run RSD procedure. ![]() UNHCR’s involvement can take one of three forms. Governments which involve UNHCR staff in their RSD processes usually formalise this arrangement in a Cooperation Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). However, as part of its mandate, UNHCR may conduct RSD when a State is unable or unwilling to perform this task, for example, if that State is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Refugee status determination (RSD) is normally assumed to be the primary responsibility of States.
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