Empirical Consequences of Normative Inadequacies: The Principle of Temporary Refuge and Protection Gaps

Abstract The article aims to propose an alternative analytical framework for examining the currently observable ineffectiveness of the international refugee protection regime. The described framework places the principle of temporary refuge and its inherent ambiguities at the centre of the analysis. To that effect, the scope and content of the principle of temporary refuge is considered with the particular focus on the presumable obligations of third states (i.e. states other than the recipient state) stemming from the principle. The analysis then turns to consideration of some of the examples of contemporary practice of temporary refuge in an attempt at framing it as one of the sources of a poor state of functioning of the international refugee regime. The paper also links the identified phenomenon to the concept of protection gaps as it was already outlined in the literature in order to clearly demonstrate the relationship between the content and contemporary practice of temporary refuge and inadequacies of the international refugee regime visible at the global level.