International Refugee Law: Misconceiving Reconceptions

Abstract

This paper addresses the implications and adequacy of the "Hathaway model" for grounding refugee immigration policy. The Hathaway model envisions and may be suitable for cases of mass migration such as the recent tragedy in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa or the response to the "ethnic cleansing," which took place in the former Yugoslavia, large-scale crisis situations calling for immediate solutions. The author argues that for other more individualized types of refugee situations, there is a need to distinguish between the categories of "asylum seeker" and "refugee" when implementing policy in order to make a better effort to screen and adequately protect those individuals who make asylum claims.