Michigan Guidelines

The Program also convenes a biennial Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law, which brings leading scholars to Ann Arbor to develop the intellectual framework for resolution of cutting-edge problems facing international refugee law.

The first Colloquium, convened in April 1999, issued the "Michigan Guidelines on the Internal Protection Alternative" (presented here in English, French, Russian and Arabic.)

The second Colloquium, convened in March 2001, issued "The Michigan Guidelines on Nexus to a Convention Ground," which define the meaning and application of the "for reasons of" clause in the refugee definition (presented here in English, French, Russian and Arabic.)

The third Colloquium, convened in March 2004, issued the "Michigan Guidelines on Well-Founded Fear." These Guidelines explain why the focus of this aspect of the refugee definition is fundamentally objective, even as it requires that account be taken of the particular circumstances of each applicant for refugee status (presented here in English, French, Russian and Arabic.)

The fourth Colloquium, convened in November 2006, took up the question of the lawfulness of rules and procedures that purport to assign the responsibility to protect refugees to some country other than that in which the refugee has sought, or intends to seek, protection (e.g., "country of first arrival," "safe third country," and extraterritorial processing rules and practices). Participants unanimously issued the "Michigan Guidelines on Protection Elsewhere" (presented here in English, French, Russian and Arabic.)

The fifth Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law convened in November 2009 at the University of Michigan Law School. This colloquium addressed the right to work for refugees and asylum seekers in the country of arrival. Guest experts, alongside our refugee law students, worked toward the adoption of the "Michigan Guidelines on the Right to Work."