Harvey, Colin --- "Is humanity enough? Refugees, asylum seekers and the rights regime" [2013] ELECD 805; in Juss, Singh Satvinder; Harvey, Colin (eds), "Contemporary Issues in Refugee Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 68

Book Title: Contemporary Issues in Refugee Law

Editor(s): Juss, Singh Satvinder; Harvey, Colin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781782547655

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: Is humanity enough? Refugees, asylum seekers and the rights regime

Author(s): Harvey, Colin

Number of pages: 21

Abstract/Description:

The protection of refugees and asylum seekers is an established part of a wider global conversation about how we treat all human beings with equal concern and respect. Those displaced by human rights abuses rely on more inclusive notions of the suffering others we owe responsibilities towards in our world – whether these ideas are captured in law or not. Moral, humanitarian and other considerations have evolved into a substantial body of legal standards which are directly addressed to the ‘person’. International law, supranational law, national law, and many other normative orders, reflect a universalist ambition to secure guarantees for all. The implication of these legal trends is precisely this: what really matters is not a ‘constructed status’ but the fact of humanity itself. Each person possesses, simply by virtue of her personhood, intrinsic human dignity. This can be contrasted with approaches which stress communal membership, belonging and national status as fundamental to the rights, responsibilities and entitlements of individuals. Human beings are situated selves but does that make our plight utterly context- dependent or can we draw on standards that all share in common whatever borders we may or may not have crossed? Why is this of interest here? The aim in this chapter is to explore the interaction between an international legal regime that continues to place great store by the fact of a legally imagined status, and a globalized practice of human rights that underlines the centrality of inclusive guarantees. A universal needs-based assessment (‘need’ here defined as anyone experiencing human rights violations)