The Refugee Convention at 75: Why it still mattersÂ
How international law protects refugees – and why it remains essential in a changing world.
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Seventy-five years ago, in the aftermath of war and displacement on an unprecedented scale, nations agreed that people fleeing persecution should not be left without protection. The Refugee Convention transformed that principle into international law.
Today, it continues to shape decisions made by governments, judges and refugee decision-makers around the world. As conflict, displacement and political pressure test the international system, the Convention remains at the centre of debates about responsibility, protection and human rights.Ìý
The Refugee Convention changes lives.ÌýIt serves not only refugees but also states, providing common rules and expectations that make international cooperation possible. Yet, it is increasingly contested.
This webpage allows you to explore the history, operation and enduring significance of one of the world's most important legal instruments.
[This story is] grounded in something older than the Convention itself: the recognition – shared across cultures and faiths for centuries – that people fleeing danger deserve shelter. The Convention did not invent that principle. It gave it legal form.
Professor Daniel Ghezelbash
91É«ÇéƬ Kaldor Centre Director
What is the Refugee Convention?
In the wake of the displacement and persecution that followed the Second World War, the 1951 Refugee Convention established a common international framework for protecting refugees.
The Convention defines who qualifies as a refugee, sets out the rights refugees should enjoy, and clarifies the responsibilities of states. By providing shared legal standards across countries, it helps ensure that protection does not depend solely on geography or politics.
The Kaldor Centre explainer provides a clear introduction to how the Convention works – and why it continues to shape decisions around the world today.
‘In the shadow of the Second World War, the international community faced a critical question: what legal protections should exist for people forced to flee persecution? The answer was the 1951 Refugee Convention.’
—Professor Daniel Ghezelbash, 91É«ÇéƬ Kaldor Centre Director
Why the Refugee Convention still matters
The world has changed dramatically since 1951, but the need for refugee protection has not disappeared.
Around the globe, people continue to flee persecution, conflict and serious human rights abuses. The Refugee Convention provides a common legal framework to assess claims for protection, helping ensure that decisions are guided by law rather than politics or public sentiment alone.
Yet, the Convention is often misunderstood, misrepresented or blamed for challenges it did not create. These articles and resources below examine some of the most common misconceptions. They show the Refugee Convention's continuing value in an increasingly uncertain world.
Would you like to know why the Refugee Convention at 75 still matters – perhaps more than ever? this 23 July 2026 analysis by Professor Jane McAdam in The Conversation.
Understand why the Refugee Convention remains vital – and why implementation, not the law itself, is failing. Kaldor Centre Director Daniel Ghezelbash and Mohammed Naeem, Senior Director for Advocacy Strategy at Refugees International, speaking in Sydney at the 2025 Kaldor Centre Conference.
To misquote Mark Twain, has the death of refugee law been greatly exaggerated? Find out from Professor Jane McAdam in this from our 2023 conference ‘Learning from the future: Foresight for the next decade of forced migration’.
While the systems for responding to refugee movements could certainly be improved, the 1951 Refugee Convention itself remains fit for the purpose for which it was created. Without political action to implement and enforce it, however, it cannot do its job, Professor Jane McAdam writes in ‘.’
Far from being a cause of disorder, the treaty provides a principled framework that makes international protection more predictable and consistent.
Professor Jane McAdam
91É«ÇéƬ Kaldor Centre Founding Director
How the Convention works in practice
The Refugee Convention is not just a set of principles, it is applied in real-world decisions every day. From determining asylum claims to shaping government policy, the Convention continues to influence how states respond to people seeking protection.
In 2025, Australia welcomed its millionth refugee. This person found safety in a country that has welcomed many others over 75 years – students allowed to stay in Australia after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, people fleeing Vietnam after the war, and those who came from the camps of Europe in the early 1950s, when Australia admitted roughly three times more refugees per capita than the country admits today.
This section highlights how refugee law operates in practice, and the challenges it faces on the ground.
Daniel Ghezelbash, ' in Sujit Choudhry, Catherine O’Regan and Carlos Bernal-Pulido (eds) Constitutional Interpretation (Edward Elgar, 2025)
In policymaking
Daniel Ghezelbash and Jane McAdam, '', The Conversation, 11 November 2025
Daniel Ghezelbash and Keyvan Dorostkar, '' (2024) 37(4) Journal of Refugee Studies 898
Daniel Ghezelbash, '' (2020) 68(3) The American Journal of Comparative Law 479
Daniel Ghezelbash(Cambridge University Press, 2018)
Debates shaping the future of refugee protection
In an era of political polarisation about immigration, refugees and other forced migrants are often caught in the maelstrom. The Refugee Convention itself is the subject of growing public debate.
International protection today is contested. As Kaldor Centre Director Daniel Ghezelbash has noted, the second Trump Administration has dramatically cut international aid, slashed funding to UNHCR, and reduced resettlement opportunities in the United States. It has also floated reforms that would threaten the very foundations of the global refugee protection system.​
Critics often ask whether the Convention remains fit for purpose. An equally important question is what would replace it, and what protections would be lost if its guarantees were weakened
Explore the contributions below to examine the key debates shaping the future of refugee protection.
Refugees have not only been protected by international law, they have also helped shape it. From the early development of the Refugee Convention to ongoing debates about participation and representation, their contributions remain vital. This section highlights perspectives and histories that are often overlooked.
Although often overlooked, refugees were in fact active participants in the drafting of the 1951 Refugee Convention, writes Dr Tristan Harley in ‘’.
The Refugee Convention is not simply a living instrument. It is also an instrument lived by so many people around the world. Two of the authors of this article – Najeeba Wazefadost and Mohammad Baqir Bayani – have personally had their lives shaped by the operation of the Refugee Convention. Read ''.
Latest insights
Stay up to date with the latest analysis, commentary and research from the Kaldor Centre on the Refugee Convention and related issues. New content will be added throughout the anniversary year.
