Deflecting international protection by treaty: bilateral and multilateral accords on extradition, readmission and the inadmissibility of asylum requests

This paper examines a particular category of measures which present serious risks to refugee protection: several current or evolving international treaties and agreements which contravene existing obligations to protect refugees. Not all are directed towards refugees or asylum seekers. As international treaties, however, they have greater significance than unilateral state actions, and arguably the same standing in international law as the 1951 Refugee Convention itself.