For the Global Migration Centre (GMC) of the Geneva Graduate Institute, the anniversary is particularly meaningful. Based in the city where the Convention was negotiated and adopted, the Centre has long contributed to debates on refugee protection through research, teaching, policy engagement, and dialogue with international organizations, governments, civil society, and refugee communities. More than a commemoration, the Convention's 75th anniversary offers an opportunity to assess its enduring relevance and the challenges surrounding its implementation.

The timing could hardly be more significant. Never have so many people needed international protection, yet the principles underpinning refugee protection are facing growing political pressure. Across multiple regions, asylum systems are challenged by increasingly restrictive policies, externalization measures, and narratives that portray refugees as a source of insecurity rather than individuals fleeing it.

A powerful reminder emerged during a recent GMC roundtable convened to mark the Convention's anniversary. Bringing together leading stakeholders in refugee protection, including H.E. Thomas Gürber, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in Geneva, Elizabeth Tan, Director of International Protection and Solutions at UNHCR, Davina Saïd, Head of Forced Displacement at ICVA, and Alicia Giraudel, Legal Adviser and Refugee Coordinator at Amnesty International Switzerland, the discussion highlighted both the resilience of the Convention and the urgency of defending its principles.

As Elizabeth Tan aptly observed:

"Refugees do not create insecurity. Insecurity creates refugees."

The statement captures a fundamental truth often lost in contemporary debates. Refugees are not the cause of instability; they are among its first victims.

For Professor Vincent Chetail, Director of the Global Migration Centre, the challenges facing the Refugee Convention today should not be understood as a crisis of relevance. On the contrary, the Convention continues to fulfil the purpose for which it was created.

"The Convention is saving lives every day; every day a refugee is recognised, someone is saved from torture, persecution or war."

The question, therefore, is not whether the Convention remains necessary, but whether states are willing to fully implement the commitments they have undertaken.

This perspective runs through Professor Chetail's recent contributions marking the Convention's anniversary. In his article The Turbulent Destiny of the Refugee Convention, published as part of the Opinio Juris symposium on the Convention at 75, he retraces the remarkable evolution of a treaty initially conceived as a temporary response to post-war displacement but which gradually became the universal foundation of refugee protection. In parallel, his interview for Geneva Solutions examines the widening gap between formal commitments to refugee protection and the increasingly restrictive realities facing asylum seekers around the world.

Together, these reflections remind us that the Refugee Convention is far more than a legal instrument. As Professor Chetail notes:

"The Convention has endorsed in legal terms the longstanding custom of asylum as a truly universal value common to all cultures, religions and civilizations."

Its endurance over seventy-five years reflects not only its legal significance but also the continued relevance of the values it embodies: protection, solidarity, responsibility-sharing, and respect for human dignity.

The discussions convened by the Global Migration Centre throughout this anniversary year point to a shared conclusion. The future of refugee protection will depend on accountability, international cooperation, meaningful participation of refugees themselves, and a renewed commitment to the rule of law. In an era of geopolitical tensions and increasingly polarized migration debates, upholding the principles of the Refugee Convention is more necessary than ever.

As the Convention enters its seventy-sixth year, the Global Migration Centre remains committed to fostering rigorous research, informed dialogue, and meaningful engagement on one of the defining challenges of our time: ensuring that the right to seek asylum and the protection of refugees remain effective realities rather than aspirations.

Further Reading

Vincent Chetail, The Turbulent Destiny of the Refugee Convention
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Geneva Solutions
You End Up Feeling Caged: 75 Years On, Embattled Refugee Convention Faces Tightening Asylum
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Roundtable: The 1951 Refugee Convention at 75: Upholding Protection in a Challenging World
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