TY - JOUR AU - Bessa, Thais PY - 2010/10/09 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - From Political Instrument to Protection Tool? Resettlement of Refugees and North-South Relations JF - Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees JA - Refuge VL - 26 IS - 1 SE - General Articles DO - 10.25071/1920-7336.30610 UR - https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/30610 SP - 91-100 AB - <!--StartFragment--><p class="Pa15" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: #221e1f; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Lacking a clear legal definition, the conceptualization and application of durable solutions have been highly influenced by states’ interests that were often at odds with humanitarian concerns on refugee protection</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black;">. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: #221e1f; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">During the Cold War resettlement was perceived as the preferred dur­able solution, although it was selectively applied to differ­ent refugee crises in the South</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black;">. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: #221e1f; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">With the asylum crisis in the 1980s and the end of the Cold War, a new agenda of containment emerged as Northern countries’ interest in receiving refugees declined</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black;">. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: #221e1f; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">During the 1990s voluntary repatriation emerged as a new preferred solution and there was an effort to redefine and adapt resettlement to a new context</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black;">. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: #221e1f; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">This process focused on detaching resettlement from its previous political and immigration character and redefining it as an exclusive protection tool and instrument of international co-operation</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black;">.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: #221e1f; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Hence, resettlement in the post-Cold War era is characterized by depoliticization, a smaller number of beneficiaries, and geographic expansion. However, it is important to critically question whether such depoliticization has happened in fact, the reasons behind it, and its relation to North-South politics and contain­ment strategies.</span></p><!--EndFragment--> ER -