At New York, on 31 January 1967, the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees is authenticated: a copy of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, signed by the President of the General Assembly and by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, is deposited in the archives of the Secretariat; the Secretary-General transmits certified copies to all States Members of the United Nations and to the other States referred to in Article V.

The preamble recalls that the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28 July 1951 covers only those persons who have become refugees as a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951, that new refugee situations have arisen since the Convention was adopted and that the refugees concerned may therefore not fall within its scope, and that it is desirable that equal status should be enjoyed by all refugees covered by the definition in the Convention irrespective of the dateline 1 January 1951.

Article I requires the States Parties to apply articles 2 to 34 inclusive of the Convention to refugees as defined for the Protocol: the term “refugee” means any person within the definition of article 1 of the Convention as if the words “As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and …” and the words “… as a result of such events” in article 1 A (2) were omitted. The Protocol shall be applied without any geographic limitation, save that existing declarations made by States already Parties to the Convention in accordance with article 1 B (1) (a) shall, unless extended under article 1 B (2), apply also under the Protocol.

Article II requires co-operation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or any successor United Nations agency, in particular to facilitate its duty of supervising the application of the Protocol, and the provision of information and statistical data concerning the condition of refugees, the implementation of the Protocol, and laws, regulations and decrees relating to refugees. Article III requires States Parties to communicate to the Secretary-General the laws and regulations they may adopt to ensure the application of the Protocol.

Article IV refers any dispute relating to the interpretation or application of the Protocol which cannot be settled by other means to the International Court of Justice at the request of any one of the parties to the dispute. Article V opens the Protocol for accession by all States Parties to the Convention and by any other State Member of the United Nations or member of any of the specialized agencies, or any State to which an invitation to accede may have been addressed by the General Assembly; accession is effected by deposit of an instrument with the Secretary-General.

Article VI sets out the federal clause: federal obligations for those articles of the Convention that fall within federal legislative jurisdiction; a favourable recommendation to constituent authorities for those that fall within their jurisdiction; and, on request, a statement of the law and practice of the Federation and its constituent units. Article VII permits, at accession, reservations in respect of Article IV and of the application of Convention provisions other than articles 1, 3, 4, 16 (1) and 33; reservations made under the Convention remain applicable under the Protocol unless withdrawn.

Article VIII provides that the Protocol shall come into force on the day of deposit of the sixth instrument of accession; for each State acceding thereafter, on the date of deposit of its instrument. Article IX allows denunciation, effective one year after receipt of the notification. Article X fixes the Secretary-General’s notifications to the States referred to in Article V. The text is not the 1951 Convention itself; the Protocol extends that Convention by removing the temporal limitation in the definition, while preserving any existing geographic declarations.

Image: United Nations Headquarters, New York; public domain, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Treaty text: Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, New York, 31 January 1967, UNTS vol. 606, No. 8791.