Application of the UNHCR's "Ceased Circumstances" Cessation Clauses to the Rwandan Refugee Crisis
Abstract
Over one hundred thousand Rwandans are currently living abroad as refugees, mostly
in the nearby countries of east and central Africa. The Rwandan government, under
the authoritarian leadership of President Paul Kagame, is working to convince both
its people and the powerful international donor community that Rwanda has recovered,
that it has reconciled, and that it is now safe for refugees to return. In October
of 2009 the United Nations’ refugee agency, the UNHCR, issued a recommendation that
its “ceased circumstances” cessation clauses—Chapter I(C), clauses (5) and (6) of
the organization’s Convention—be invoked with respect to these Rwandan refugees. These
provisions allow the UN and refugee asylum countries to determine when the reasons
for a particular refugee crisis have ended. In July of this year, all remaining Rwandan
refugees will lose their group refugee status and the legal protection and benefits
this status carries. Many of them will be forced to repatriate. Citing the crimes
of Kagame’s military forces both during and after the 1994 Genocide, as well as the
repressive political conditions the country continues to experience today, Rwandan
refugees are concerned that a forced return will mean exposure to very real and continued
fears and dangers. Confronted by both this possibility and by the entirety of their
lives and experiences in exile, these refugees must continually renegotiate their
notions of “home” and “belonging.”
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
International Comparative StudiesPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/7525Citation
Rabideau, Jeline (2013). Application of the UNHCR's "Ceased Circumstances" Cessation Clauses to the Rwandan
Refugee Crisis. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/7525.Collections
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