Blog post written by Dr James C. Simeon (York University, Canada) and Professor Elies van Sliedregt (University of Leeds).

The mass production of refugees from zones of extreme political violence in the form of protracted non-international armed conflict has resulted in the greater prominence of the so-called ‘Exclusion Clauses’ of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 1F. How serious international crimes and breaches of international human rights produce mass forced displacement and, with it, the issues dealing with the ‘Exclusion Clauses’ has come to the fore as one of the areas of significant concern in international refugee law. The proper application and interpretation of Article 1F for those who are fleeing protracted armed conflict and extreme political oppression and whether there are ‘serious reasons for considering’ that they may have ‘committed’ or may be ‘guilty’ of serious international crimes is of one of the critical issues in public international law, in general, and international refugee law, in particular.

Read full blog post on Refugee Law Initiative Blog on Refugee Law and Forced Migration