TY - JOUR

T1 - Arctic Asylum

T2 - The Legal Regulation of Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in Greenland and Svalbard

AU - Gammeltoft-Hansen, Thomas

AU - Klinge, Sune

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - This article examines the regulation and rights of refugees and other foreigners inindependent, overseas and other not fully sovereign territories. It analyses two Nordiccases, Greenland and Svalbard. Greenland is an autonomous territory within theKingdom of Denmark, and Svalbard an unincorporated area subject to Norwegiansovereignty through the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty. Unlike their parent states, bothterritories remain outside the Schengen Area. As this article highlights, both territoriesare subject to distinct regulatory frameworks in respect to asylum-seekers and refugees.While the number of asylum-seekers or refugees in each place is so far verylimited, the regulatory differences nonetheless raise principled questions bothfrom a rights-based perspective and at the more theoretical level. As this articleargues, Greenland and Svalbard both exemplify how international law and latesovereign constructions may themselves provide for an unmooring of asylumand refugee rights within the ordinary statist framework. The effects in each caseare multi-directional. On the one hand, the legal frameworks pertaining to thesearctic territories provide for significantly more liberal rules in terms of access toasylum and immigration control. On the other hand, these legal bifurcations serveto upend the ordinary Nordic social contract and welfare rights owed to refugeesand other aliens.

AB - This article examines the regulation and rights of refugees and other foreigners inindependent, overseas and other not fully sovereign territories. It analyses two Nordiccases, Greenland and Svalbard. Greenland is an autonomous territory within theKingdom of Denmark, and Svalbard an unincorporated area subject to Norwegiansovereignty through the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty. Unlike their parent states, bothterritories remain outside the Schengen Area. As this article highlights, both territoriesare subject to distinct regulatory frameworks in respect to asylum-seekers and refugees.While the number of asylum-seekers or refugees in each place is so far verylimited, the regulatory differences nonetheless raise principled questions bothfrom a rights-based perspective and at the more theoretical level. As this articleargues, Greenland and Svalbard both exemplify how international law and latesovereign constructions may themselves provide for an unmooring of asylumand refugee rights within the ordinary statist framework. The effects in each caseare multi-directional. On the one hand, the legal frameworks pertaining to thesearctic territories provide for significantly more liberal rules in terms of access toasylum and immigration control. On the other hand, these legal bifurcations serveto upend the ordinary Nordic social contract and welfare rights owed to refugeesand other aliens.

U2 - 10.1163/15718107-91010007

DO - 10.1163/15718107-91010007

M3 - Journal article

VL - 91

SP - 148

EP - 171

JO - Nordic Journal of International Law

JF - Nordic Journal of International Law

SN - 0902-7351

IS - 2022

ER -