Article du International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 27, Issue 4 : Refugees and the Myth of Human Rights: Life Outside the Pale of the Law

According to the UNHCR, the number of refugees of concern in mid-2014 stood at 13 million.1 Acknowledging these figures, the recent tragic cases of migrants crossing from Africa to Europe on boats, and the increasing numbers of asylum seekers in Australia, Refugees and the Myth of Human Rights: Life Outside the Pale of the Law by Emma Larking, an Australian author, is a particularly important and timely publication, her valuable insight into the issues of refugees, migrations, and human rights promotes a better understanding of the problem of human migrations in the context of history, politics, political philosophy, international relations, and human rights.

Western civilisation likes to emphasise its respect and commitment to human rights, the roots of which, as highlighted by Larking, are in ancient Greece and the writings of Locke and Kant. Today, in many countries, human rights are understood not only as moral principles, norms, and standards of human behaviour to be followed and applied in various contexts and relationships of daily settings and makings, they have been formulated as national and international laws defining legal rights for all human beings to be universally observed and practiced by administrations and governments. The philosophy and approach to the issue of human rights is best expressed in the very first sentence of that most important and referential instrument on human rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads, in part: ‘… recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world’.

Pour consulter l'article : ​http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/4/697.full