“Minimum Legal Standards for Asylum Procedures”

New RLI Declaration on International Protection

- Launch Event -

Refugee Law Initiative

Tuesday 3 November 2026, 17.00 UK, online

This virtual panel launches the new 2026 Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) Declaration on Internal Protection: “Minimum Legal Standards for Asylum Procedures”. The supporting analytical paper on “International Law and the Procedural Standards for Determining Asylum Claims”, authored by a working group of international experts, will be launched in tandem.

International protection depends on access to fair and effective procedures for determining claims for asylum. Procedures that are inaccessible or incapable of properly determining asylum claims put claimants at risk of refoulement and other unlawful harms and deny them the benefits of legal treatment as a refugee. They also put States at risk of breaching their obligations under international law. As many States implement ever more restrictive asylum procedures and barriers to accessing them, there is a need for greater legal certainty as to the minimum procedural requirements that apply as a matter of international law.

In the new RLI Declaration, we outline the set of minimum international legal standards that apply to the procedures through which States receive and examine asylum claims. The content of this Declaration will be of interest to governments that receive asylum claims, the courts and tribunals that review their legality, the asylum claimants who are subject to these procedures and to the broader community of refugee and human rights law scholars.

The launch event will involve presentations regarding the Declaration from three of the contributing experts, a response from an external UNHCR commentator and time for questions and comments from the wider participating audience. The speakers are:

• Prof. David Cantor (RLI Director) – introduction and moderation
• Prof. Hugo Storey (RLI and Kaldor Centre) – key points from the Declaration
• Prof. Madalina Moraru (University of Bologna) – key points from study
• Elise Currie-Roberts (UNHCR) – external view of significance of Declaration

Both the Declaration and the supporting analytical paper will be published on the RLI website and, with free access for a defined period, in the International Journal of Refugee Law. They will be made available for download during the launch event.

The panel is online, public and open to all. Prior registration is required via the RLI website.