Preface to the Second Book

• Author: Joseph Rikhof
• Pages: 33-37

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Preface

   

This new book is, in eect, the second edition of the original  edi-

tion even though it has a new title, a new structure, and a new publisher.

These changes ref‌lect the more fundamental shifts in immigration and

refugee trends in the last ten years and their eects on the approaches

taken at the international and national levels with respect to criminality

in refugee law — specif‌ically, exclusion and refoulement.

The global asylum situation is grim. According to the United

Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of mid-,

global forced displacement had reached million people, of which

.million were internally displaced people, .million were refugees,

.million were asylum seekers, and another .million were individ-

uals in need of international protection. While persons have f‌led from

intolerable situations all over the world, the situation in Syria in the last

ten years and the situation in Ukraine in  stand out not only for the

vast numbers of persons aected by the turmoil in those countries but

also for the fact that in both instances the connection between war and

refugees has once again been made abundantly clear.

While countries since  initially welcomed refugees, public and

government attitudes have been hardening over the last decade. The

issue of migration has been especially at the forefront of public discus-

sion in North America and Europe, with its subsequent eect on pol-

itical debate, resulting in turn in the election of populist governments

 www.unhcr.org/refugee-

statistics.