The Geneva Convention of 1951: From a Human Rights Perspective to a Law and Economics Approach?

This chapter analyzes the main Articles of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees by applying a case-law study and human rights approach in the background of law and economics literature. In addition, concrete examples taken from the national constitutions of 27 EU Member States demonstrate the different techniques that various national lawmakers have taken regarding the crystallization of the right to asylum. Moreover, after exposing some reasons for the “refugee market failure” and outlining the cases of State intervention to reach a quasi-stable outcome, this chapter presents the refugee burden-sharing through a scheme that can also avoid the Coasean bargaining between countries. In conclusion, it is shown that the human rights approach and law and economics methods can coexist together. Additionally, this chapter demonstrates that facing the refugee crisis through a regionally structured system is closer to Pareto optimality than the State-individual or global approach.