Refugee Protection in Pakistan: Domestic Legal Vacuum and International Obligations

Abstract

In the case of Pakistan, the refugee population has been one of the most prolonged and highest in the world, and it has worked in the country more than 40 years, but the country has no form of elaborate domestic laws that regulate protection of refugees. Although Pakistan is neither a signatory of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951, nor its 1967 Protocol, there are a set of various international human rights obligations to which it is bound, which are directly applied in the protection of refugees and asylum seekers. This paper critically assesses the issue of refugee protection in Pakistan by evaluating the implications of the local legal vacuum, the ad hoc administrative solutions, as well as the level of the international law responsiveness to the normative and practical gaps. It contends that lack of legislation exclusively pertinent to refugees has led to the lack of lawfulness, unequal treatment and increased susceptibility to refugees especially the Afghan refugees who form the largest group of the displaced refugees in Pakistan. The paper also evidences that although Pakistan has been characterized by exceptional humanitarian toleration, the management of refugees has been influenced more by security and expediency in politics than the human rights legal provisions. Based on the international human right law, customary international law, and the practice of states, the article argues that Pakistan is not removed of its core protection duties like non-refoulement, right to basic rights, and protection against arbitrary arrest by reference to its non-accession to the Refugee Convention. The article concludes that sustainable refugee protection in Pakistan demands the creation of a consistent domestic legal framework that aligns humanitarian practice and international requirements, increases the clarity of the law, and reconciles state interests and the primary rights of refugees.