Refugee Law and the Protection of Children fleeing Conflict and Violence in Afghanistan

Refugee law today is increasingly a tool of counter-insurgency, used by States to exclude the most vulnerable from the major trouble-spots of the world. The new counter-insurgency strategy is based on real and imagined new terrors to the West. This article looks at how children and so-called 'm...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of conflict & security law 2013-07, Vol.18 (2), p.289-329
Main Author: Juss, Satvinder Singh
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Refugee law today is increasingly a tool of counter-insurgency, used by States to exclude the most vulnerable from the major trouble-spots of the world. The new counter-insurgency strategy is based on real and imagined new terrors to the West. This article looks at how children and so-called 'military-aged males', fleeing conditions of 'indiscriminate violence' from Afghanistan, are denied the protection of Article 15(c) of the EU Qualification Directive (Council Directive 2004/83/EC). This was passed to cover a risk of 'serious harm', defined inter alia, as 'serious and individual threat to a civilian's life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict.' The result is a marked subversion and impoverishment of the investiture of refugee-hood itself, which does not bode well for the future.
ISSN:1467-7954
1467-7962
DOI:10.1093/jcsl/krt001