Compromises and Commitments: The normative impact of the Global Compact on Refugees

Among the two compacts currently being negotiated, the Global Compact on Refugees has a clear advantage from a normative perspective. Whereas state leaders agreed to reaffirm the continued importance of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, global governance in regard to migration is notoriously fragmented and there is no similar legally binding instrument to build upon. At the same time, it is clear that the 1951 Convention leaves certain issues, e.g. responsibility-sharing and refugee status determination, wide open. Moreover, developments the last decades have similarly prompted calls for review or amendments in areas such as the definition and access to asylum. Several commentators have pushed for the Compact to fill at least some of these normative gaps and expressed hope that the Compact will pave the way for subsequent legal developments, such as a new protocol to the 1951 Convention.