International Refugee Law: From a Self-Contained Regime to an International Protection Framework

Abstract International Refugee Law (IRL) has historically evolved in a relatively autonomous manner, distinct from other fields of international law. In accordance with its presumed autonomy, IRL has been regarded as a “self-contained regime” on multiple occasions. Yet, this qualification has not been subjected to detailed scrutiny. This is despite the fact that decision-makers and scholars have demonstrated increasing engagement with other branches of international law, thereby implicitly challenging the notion of a self-contained regime. This article posits that IRL does not qualify as a self-contained regime but is instead intertwined with both general international law and other specialised sub-fields. While the precise nature of the interrelations of IRL with other legal regimes remains contested, the principle of systemic integration on the basis of Article 31(3)c of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties offers valuable interpretative guidance for reconciling the concurrent applicability of multiple legal regimes. From the perspective of systemic integration, this article proposes that protection norms under international law are best conceived as components of one holistic “international protection framework”, rather than as isolated regimes.