Refugee Convention turns 75 amid record global displacement and asylum pressures

Seventy-five years ago, in the aftermath of the Second World War, governments adopted what would become the cornerstone of modern refugee protection - the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.

Drafted in response to one of history's largest displacement crises, the convention established the international legal framework for protecting refugees. It enshrined the principle that people fleeing persecution should not be returned to places where their lives or freedom are at risk, while defining who qualifies as a refugee, the rights they are entitled to and the obligations of states towards them.

Three-quarters of a century later, however, the convention reaches its anniversary at a moment when the international refugee system faces unprecedented strain.

More than 120 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced by war, persecution and violence, according to UN figures.

Conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, Myanmar and elsewhere continue to drive new waves of displacement even as many governments tighten border controls and adopt increasingly restrictive asylum policies.

Marking the anniversary, the European Union reaffirmed its commitment to the convention, describing it as "the essential legal framework" for protecting refugees and warning that international cooperation remains indispensable at a time of mounting global displacement.

"The Convention has had a profound global impact in safeguarding millions of lives," the European Commission and the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement, adding that refugee protection must remain firmly anchored in international law.

But the EU has also joined a growing trend in the West of watering down refugee protections and tightening asylum rules amid rising displacement and a surge in the popularity of the far-right.

The bloc's new asylum pact introduced this year makes it easier for governments to detain asylum seekers and migrants and deport them to third countries, echoing the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the US.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced a new rule that could speed up the deportation of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers.

The Department of Homeland Security said the measure - which allows some applications to bypass an initial interview with a US asylum officer - would help reduce a backlog of 1.43 million pending asylum cases, with up to 444,724 applications potentially affected.

For UNHCR, the anniversary is intended to be more than a commemoration. Throughout 2026, the agency is convening a series of national, regional and global dialogues examining whether the existing protection system is equipped for today's realities.

The discussions bring together governments, refugees, civil society organisations and academics to address what UNHCR describes as growing fragmentation in refugee protection.

"At a time of record displacement, shrinking protection space and mounting pressure on asylum systems, the 1951 Convention remains the most practical and comprehensive framework for refugee protection," UNHCR says.

Yet, it adds, many refugees continue to experience protection "as fragmented", with legal recognition often failing to translate into meaningful rights or durable solutions.

The year-long consultation will culminate in Geneva in December before informing a "New Agenda for the Future of Protection and Solutions", expected in early 2027.

The anniversary has also prompted renewed discussion over how the convention applies to Palestinians.

In an op-ed published by The New Arab, legal scholar Victor Kattan argued that Palestinians, "the world's longest-standing refugee population", have spent much of the past 75 years outside the convention's full protection.

Kattan wrote that Palestinians were placed under a separate UN framework centred on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), while Article 1D of the Refugee Convention was intended to ensure they would receive the convention's protections if that assistance ceased. He argued that decades of legal interpretation and political inaction have instead left many Palestinians facing a protection gap.

Kattan also argued that Britain bears historical responsibility through its administration of Mandatory Palestine and called on the UK government to acknowledge that legacy and consider reparative measures.