Revitalizing Refugee Protection: How the Global Compact effectively complements the 1951 Geneva Convention
Revitalizing Refugee Protection: How the Global Compact effectively complements the 1951 Geneva Convention

Ethiopia. DAFI scholars photographed on the Jigjiga University campus.
At the beginning of June, I had the honour of delivering the keynote address at the Refugee Law Initiative Annual Conference. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Pacts, promises and refugee protection’. I was invited to discuss the ways in which the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) has helped to reinvigorate the international community’s acknowledgement and adherence to the legal principles of refugee protection, and the potential of the Compact to further reinforce obligations and commitments to uphold the rights of those forced to flee.
Sadly, even as I was giving my speech, these long-held rights continued to be violated around the world. The principle of non-refoulement – not sending people back to places where their safety and rights are at risk, acknowledged as unconscionable over half a century ago – is being routinely ignored, with asylum-seekers and refugees being brutally, sometimes fatally, pushed back as they try to seek safety.
Elsewhere, access to asylum systems has been reduced, and a trend is growing for “offshoring” asylum processes, effectively meaning some are trying to avoid their legal responsibilities and shift them to others. This has been accompanied by a growing anti-refugee rhetoric and frequent conflation of asylum-seekers with migrants. Refugees and migrants often move along similar routes, traveling within mixed flows, but a distinction is important to ensure that those fleeing conflicts or persecution can benefit from the protection regime designed to protect them.
The New York Declaration was adopted in 2016, the year of the 65th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention. It was a recognition of the fact that the landscape had changed dramatically over those decades, which bore witness to new conflicts and the increasing impacts of climate change, leading to greater levels of displacement than ever seen before.
The Compact, the ultimate result of the New York Declaration, was never intended to replace or update the 1951 Convention or its 1967 Protocol – despite how much has changed over those 65 years, the underlying principles of refugee protection remain as relevant as before. The Compact was instead designed to address gaps in refugee responses and provide new tools to deal with emerging issues such as the effects of climate change and the impact of more irregular migration across dangerous routes, by promoting a multi-stakeholder approach.
For example, while emphasising the need for responsibility sharing when it comes to addressing refugee situations, the 1951 Convention did not expressly say how this should be achieved. This is a gap the Compact seeks to address by improving cooperation, particularly between States but across the international community, giving host countries more power and better tools to address situations and obtain the support they need.
The Compact couldn’t have come soon enough. Since the New York Declaration in 2016, the number of refugees worldwide has doubled, yet three quarters of refugees are hosted in low- and middle-income countries.
But in spite of these efforts, we are far from achieving the levels of progress we hoped for. The GCR Indicator Report, released every two years to track the progress of the implementation of the Compact, highlights through data and evidence how the response has so far been insufficient, with new displacement continuing to outpace available solutions in 2022, and host countries left frustrated at commitments not being fulfilled.
However, this is neither a failure nor an indictment of the Compact. It is important to recall that the GCR is an expression of political will by States to respect their obligations, and as such, the findings of the Indicator Report should serve as a call to action for the entire international community to ensure States are upholding their responsibilities, while doing everything within our power to support them in doing so.
The Compact has already been used to create innovative tools and systems which are starting to address these problems.
The Global Refugee Forums (GRF) – the second of which was held last December – have acted as a catalyst to drive policy, financial, material, and technical commitments from across the international community. This has led to new partnerships with high levels of refugee participation, including through the multi-stakeholder pledges launched at the GRF in 2023, most of which are led by States and involve partners from across the different GCR stakeholder groups.
The regional Support Platforms, launched to contribute to addressing specific displacement situations, are providing a more effective and, crucially, predictable way of getting the required support to address different stages of crises.
The Compact also includes other initiatives such as the Global Academic Interdisciplinary Network, the Asylum Capacity Support Group, and the strategy on resettlement and complementary pathways, which bring together experts in their fields to help refugees access and host countries strengthen systems such as education, asylum, and resettlement.
By ensuring we are working in partnership with different actors, meaningfully including refugees, and engaging at local, regional, and international policy fora, we can leverage the Compact and the pledges actors have made. By implementing the Compact and delivering on the multi-stakeholder pledges, we also contribute to advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its goals, as well as the Actions of the Pact for the Future, launched at the Summit of the Future. A recent event highlighted the connections between the Pact of the Future and the GCR, Pledging for the Future: Advancing the Pact for the Future and its Actions through the Global Compact on Refugees.
As we approach the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Convention, it is incumbent on all of us to ensure its provisions are being upheld. We hope this guidance note on the complementarity between the Convention and the Compact will prove useful to all stakeholders working towards true and equitable responsibility-sharing, and reinforce recognition of the inalienable rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless people.
Further reading
The text of the AHC-P’s speech at the conference is available online and contains more information about the challenges and opportunities the GCR and 1951 Convention present.
A note on the complementarity between the GCR and 1951 Convention is also available.
Additional Information
Reinforcing Rights and Legal Principles in the Face of Global Challenges - Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, delivers the keynote address at the Refugee Law Initiative Annual Conference 2024