Tom Clark, The Global Refugee Regime: Charity, Management, and Human Rights. Trafford Publishing, Victoria, 2004, viii + 274pp. ISBN 1–4120–4245–3

Tom Clark, The Global Refugee Regime: Charity, Management, and Human Rights. Trafford Publishing, Victoria, 2004, viii + 274pp. ISBN 1–4120–4245–3

Abstract

Ó The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org Tom Clark, The Global Refugee Regime: Charity, Management, and Human Rights. Trafford Publishing, Victoria, 2004, viii þ 274pp. ISBN 1–4120–4245–3 Tom Clark’s book provides a very nice overview of international refugee law (IRL), drawing strength from many of the author’s personal reflections. The book is largely derived from materials presented at the Summer Course on Refugee Issues organized by Clark at York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies. It combines thoughtful reflection with clarity of expression and economy of language. Its main failing, however, is that it seeks to achieve too much in such a concise volume. For example, its treatment of international humanitarian law is not entirely accurate, and its account of the international human rights system is largely disjointed. These faults are, of course, explicable as the consequence of trying to engage too many aspects of what are in fact complex and broad-ranging debates. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 of Clark’s book deal with refugee law both in its institutional — including not only UNHCR, but other key actors — and legal dimensions. While these accounts are necessarily brief, the