Access to Justice for Refugees Under Regional Human Rights Frameworks

Abstrakt

Refugees seeking legal remedy for rights violations frequently encounter procedural and practical barriers that limit meaningful access to justice, notwithstanding formal guarantees provided under regional human rights frameworks. This study examines how procedural barriers, including legal aid availability, language interpretation access, and documentation requirements, shape refugees' practical ability to pursue claims before regional human rights mechanisms. Drawing on case analysis of admissibility decisions alongside interviews with legal aid practitioners working with refugee claimants, we identify recurring points at which procedural requirements, though facially neutral, disproportionately exclude refugee claimants relative to other claimant groups. Findings indicate that documentation requirements linked to exhaustion of domestic remedies present a particularly significant barrier, given that refugees often lack continued access to domestic legal systems in their country of origin following displacement. Legal aid availability varied considerably depending on claimants' host country location, producing uneven practical access despite formally uniform regional procedural rules. We propose procedural adaptations, including flexible interpretation of domestic remedy exhaustion requirements for displaced claimants, that could improve practical access without requiring substantive treaty amendment. These findings contribute to ongoing discussion of procedural reform needed to make regional human rights protection meaningfully accessible to refugee populations.