Published in the Conversation: July 23, 2026 3.08pm AEST
Image: Malawian refugees in South Africa wait to board buses back to their home country amid an increase in anti-immigrant violence in the country. Kim Ludbrook/EPA
This month marks 75 years since the adoption of the 1951 Refugee Convention on July 28 1951. Negotiated in the aftermath of the second world war, the treaty came into force three years later after Australia became the sixth country to ratify it.
Today, 149 states are parties to the convention and/or its 1967 Protocol, which effectively extended its application beyond the immediate post-war era.
Every day, life-saving decisions are made in accordance with the Refugee Convention’s fundamental principles, making it one of the most utilised treaties in the world. It provides a common framework for determining who refugees are and the protections and rights to which they are entitled. This includes:
- not removing refugees to any place where they face a well-founded fear of being persecuted
- not penalising them for entering a country without valid travel documents
- and granting them a legal status that ensures they can rebuild their lives in safety and with dignity.
The Refugee Convention has proven to be remarkably adaptable over its 75-year history.
Critics also claim the convention fails to provide a solution to mass influxes of refugees and does not distribute refugees evenly among states.
But these were never the convention’s functions. Rather, its purpose was to make international protection of refugees more predictable and consistent. Far from being a cause of disorder, the treaty provides a principled framework for common action.
Displacement wouldn’t stop without the Refugee Convention; it would simply become more chaotic and unstable.
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