Protection within the UN System of the Rights of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Detention

The central issue addressed in the article is the expanding practice of detaining refugees and asylum-seekers in contradiction to international legal standards. The aim of the research is to identify the role of the UN bodies and organizations in limiting states’ use of detention in respect of refugees and asylum-seekers and in promoting realistic alternatives to such detention. The authors conduct a comprehensive international legal analysis of the activities of the UN institutions on this issue, encompassing both the universal human rights system and specialized structures. The practice of the UN human rights treaty bodies, which consistently establish standards for the inadmissibility of detaining particularly vulnerable groups of refugees and asylum-seekers (children, women, persons with disabilities), is systematized. The specific mandates of other institutions are examined at the following examples: the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which provides legal support to Palestinian refugees in refugee camps and detention facilities; the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which develops pragmatic administrative alternatives to detention in the context of migration management; and the International Labour Organization (ILO), which offers an innovative vector of protection through labour integration and access to the labour market. The article identifies conceptual differences between complementary paradigms: human rights bodies strengthen the mandatory prohibition, the IOM fills it with operational mechanisms, and the ILO ensures sustainability through socio-economic emancipation. Thus, the authors substantiate the thesis that the international legal institutional system for the protection of refugees and asylum-seekers, including the issue of their detention, is not limited to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It is concluded that it is the synergy of human rights monitoring of states’ compliance with international legal obligations, field management, and integration programs through the labour sphere that can ensure a balance between the sovereign interests of states and the human rights of refugees and asylum-seekers.