Book Description

This ground-breaking volume brings the refugee issue out of the narrow confines of refugee law into the centre of international law and international relations. It reviews the concept of the refugee and the international protection of refugees from the unconventional angle of the prospects and limitations of multilateralism in the post Cold War era. This approach - taking conflict prevention and resolution as its point of departure - ensures that Broadening the Edges: Refugee Definition and International Protection Revisited is not only novel, but comprehensive and practical as well. It is comprehensive because it offers a review of state practice within the United Nations and regional contexts, as well as a review of the practice of the United Nations inter-agency system. It is practical because it is based on the personal experience of its author, not on theoretical models. The broadening concept of security, affecting the attitudes of states towards refugees, is the underlying theme of the book. As a result, the contemporary preoccupation with how best to provide international protection to all those in need of it is reviewed from a number of relevant perspectives - including that of peacekeeping, sanctions, and coordination and competence within the United Nations. Pirkko Kourula worked for some twelve years in UNHCR in Asia, Europe and the USA, and was Deputy Director of UNHCR Liaison Office at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 1991 to 1996. She was also Director for Humanitarian Assistance and Food Aid at FINNIDA, the Finnish International Development Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.