About the Reader

Section I Introduction to International Refugee Law: Background and Context


Section II International Framework for Refugee Protection


Section III African Framework for Refugee Protection


Section IV Asian Framework for Refugee Protection


Section V European Framework for Refugee Protection


Section VI Latin American Framework for Refugee Protection





Editor-in-Chief

Rosemary Byrne

Editorial Board

Ekuru Aukot

Bhupinder Chimni

François Crépeau

Maryellen Fullerton

Madeline Garlick

Elspeth Guild

Lyra Jakulevièiene

Boldizsár Nagy

Luis Peral

Jens Vedsted-Hansen


Welcome to the Fifth Edition of The Refugee Law Reader, which is the first comprehensive on-line model curriculum for the study of the complex and rapidly evolving field of international asylum and refugee law. The Fifth Edition is an expanded ‘universal’ edition introducing new regional legal sections on Africa, Asia and Latin America. In order to better serve a global community, independent editions in French, Russian and Spanish will soon be published as well. As a 'living book', new editions of The Reader always reflect the most important developments in International Refugee Law that have occurred since the first online publication in April 2004. 

The Reader is aimed for the use of professors, lawyers, advocates and students across a wide range of national jurisdictions. It provides a flexible course structure that can be easily adapted to meet a range of training and resource needs. The Reader also offers access to the complete texts of up-to-date core legal materials, instruments, and academic commentary. In its entirety, the Refugee Law Reader is designed to provide a full curriculum for a 48 hour course in International Refugee Law and contains over 700 documents and materials.

Due to the significant expansion of documents and literature in this universal edition, there still remains some material that is in the process of being uploaded or for which we are awaiting copyright permission and that will soon be accessible to users. We thank you in advance for your patience.

To learn more about how to use The Reader, please visit the About the Reader section.