Internal Protection/Relocation/Flight Alternative as an Aspect of Refugee Status Determination

Authors

James C. Hathaway, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow
Michelle Foster, Melbourne Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2003

Abstract

In many jurisdictions around the world, the possibility of an ‘internal flight alternative’(IFA) (often referred to as ‘internal relocation alternative’) is invoked to deny refugee status to persons at risk of being persecuted for a Convention reason in part, but not all, of their country of origin. In this, as in so many areas of refugee lawand policy, the viability of a universal commitment to protection is challenged by divergence in State practice. The goals of this paper are therefore, first, briefly to review the origins and development of the practice of considering IFA as an aspect of the refugee status determination process; secondly, to identify key protection concerns in leading formulations of the IFA rule; and, thirdly, to propose relevant substantive and procedural standards which recognize the legal plausibility in some circumstances of considering internal protection alternatives, but which we believe avoid most of the protection pitfalls of current practice and doctrine.

Publication Information & Recommended Citation

Hathaway, James C. "Internal Protection/Relocation/Flight Alternative as an Aspect of Refugee Status Determination." M.Foster, co-author. In Refugee Protection in International Law: UNHCR's Global Consultations on International Protection, edited by E. Feller et al., 357-417. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003.