Immigration Article of the Day: Extraterritorial Rights of Refugees  by Chimene Keitner,  Extraterritoriality in International Law

Abstract

The predominant role of borders in international law and relations persists notwithstanding the realities of global interdependence, transnational networks, and the bonds created by our shared humanity. Wealthier countries often portray their national borders as impermeable barriers that ‘protect’ them from incurring obligations towards the citizens and inhabitants of other countries, with rare exceptions. In the mid-twentieth century, states formalized certain treaty-based obligations towards noncitizens, which have become embedded in customary international law, by creating an international legal regime of refugee protection. This chapter catalogues the erosion of crucial pillars of that regime, spurred by the domestic political mobilization of anti-immigrant sentiment. Domestic judicial institutions have relied on the doctrinal significance of territorial borders to approve, or at least defer to, states’ narrow interpretations of their legal obligations towards ‘outsiders.’ International bodies have supported more expansive interpretations. The persistence of this interpretive gap jeopardizes the ability of the international system to respond adequately to the needs of the world’s population.