Now Is the Time to Uphold the Rule of Law for Refugee Protection: UN and regional experts

June 20, 2025

Washington, DC / Geneva—On World Refugee Day, the Platform of Independent Experts on Refugee Rights (PIERR), a group of UN and regional independent human rights experts, issued the following statement:

In the face of increasing assaults worldwide on the rule of law, the lack of assurance on the independence of judges and lawyers, and restrictions to access to asylum, on this World Refugee Day, we urge States to reaffirm their commitments to protect and promote the human rights of refugees and asylum-seekers. These include guarantees of due process and procedural safeguards complying with international human rights and refugee law including at ports of entry for those seeking international protection; in decision-making on entry, stay and refugee status; ensuring effective protection against arbitrary arrest and detention; and fulfilment of the core principle of non-refoulement.

At all stages of forced displacement, human rights must be protected by the steadfast commitment of States to uphold and protect the rule of law, non-discrimination, and ensure effective access to justice. Failure to ensure equal protection of the law, violates the enjoyment of the right to seek asylum and other core human rights of refugees and asylum-seekers.

The lack of respect for the rule of law has devastating consequences for refugees and asylum-seekers. A breakdown in the rule of law can create conditions for conflict, which may drive displacement and produce refugees in search of international protection. Moreover, in receiving countries, instead of upholding their international obligations, some States respond with restrictive measures that deny asylum-seekers access to territory and fair asylum procedures that align with due process guarantees, penalize them with arbitrary detention, separate them from their families, and fail to ensure protection of unaccompanied and separated children. Racial profiling by law enforcement bodies violates the rights of refugee and asylum seekers to equal protection of the law.

States are also engaging in externalization practices that outsource international protection in ways that undermine asylum. This creates a harmful cycle in which the very principles meant to protect those in need of protection – and all people – are themselves weakened and at risk. To break this cycle, measures that reinforce the rule of law are critical, particularly for those who have fled conflict, war, persecution or other serious human rights violations.

When speaking of the rule of law, it is also important to recognize that the free and independent exercise of the legal profession is essential to ensuring access to justice and safeguarding due process and other procedural rights. Unfortunately, we are witnessing a serious erosion of due process through measures that limit asylum-seekers' access to legal assistance, including in immigration detention and when facing removal to a third country that may lead to refoulement.

On this World Refugee Day, we urge States to reject measures that undermine the rule of law and human rights protection for refugees and asylum-seekers. Instead, we call on States to strengthen cooperation, responsibility-sharing, and measures that uphold the rule of law, due process, and the obligation of non-discrimination, ensuring gender equality and the rights and best interests of refugee and asylum-seeking children.

Respect for the rule of law is not optional. It is a foundational human rights principle and necessary to protect the rights of all people, including those who have been forced to flee and rely on these universally recognized principles. States must respect and uphold these rights of refugees and asylum-seekers, recognizing the universality of human rights and obligation of equal protection of the law.

The PIERR is currently composed of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the human rights of migrants and on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, the Working Group on arbitrary detention, the UN Committee against torture, the Special Rapporteur on refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and migrants in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Rapporteurship on Human Mobility of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.

The Platform is supported by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

Siobhán Mullally, PIERR Chair and UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children; Gehad Madi, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants; Matthew Gillett (Chair-Rapporteur), UN Working Group on arbitrary detention; Selma Sassi-Safer, Commissioner and Special Rapporteur on refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and migrants in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights; Andrea Pochak, Commissioner and Rapporteur on Human Mobility of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Alan Mitchell, President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.

The IACHR is a principal and autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mandate stems from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has the mandate to promote the observance and defense of human rights in the region and acts as an advisory body to the OAS on the matter. The IACHR is made up of seven independent members who are elected by the OAS General Assembly in their personal capacity, and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 126/25

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