The UNHCR and Internally Displaced Persons – Protection for the Purposes of Precluding Application of the Refugee Convention?

The absence of protection from persecution is a precondition to qualifying as a refugee. Nowadays, however, protection is not solely provided by states and may stem from Non-State Actors (‘NSAs’) such as international organizations. This study will examine whether, and if so, under which circumstances, such protection may be substituted for ‘protection of that country’ and may thus preclude the application of the Refugee Convention. The focus will be on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (‘UNHCR’) owing to its significant role in the protection of Internally Displaced Persons (‘IDPs’), persons who often go on make a refugee claim upon fleeing the state. The former half of this paper will put forward an interpretation of the term ‘protection of that country’. This will be done first, by examining the refugee definition, in particular the meaning of the terms ‘that country’ and ‘protection’; secondly, by analysing relevant principles of EU law; and thirdly, by outlining how these concepts have been elaborated by relevant jurisprudence on international organizations. The latter half of this study will analyse the legal basis and scope of UNHCR’s mandate with IDPs and will conclude by illustrating the reasons for which the activities of the UNHCR cannot constitute ‘protection of that country’ for the purposes of precluding the application of the refugee definition.