Recent increases in large-scale refugee movements, particularly as a result of the Syria crisis, have led to renewed policy and academic interest in the long-contested principle of burden sharing in the refugee regime. Recital 4 of the preamble of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention) expresses this principle as follows: Considering that the grant of asylum may place unduly heavy burdens on certain countries, and that a satisfactory solution of a problem of which the United Nations has recognized the international scope and nature cannot therefore be achieved without international co-operation. Through an analysis of the travaux préparatoires of the 1951 Convention relating to recital 4, this article seeks to shed light on the origins of the inclusion of burden sharing in the contemporary refugee protection regime. It is argued that the travaux préparatoires reveal considerable divergence among the drafters regarding both the placement of the burden-sharing principle in the preamble (form) as well as its scope and legal effects (substance), and suggest that the ultimate decision to retain recital 4 was a political compromise. In considering the intentions of the drafters with respect to recital 4, particular focus is placed on three potential 'legal effects' that arise to a greater or lesser extent from the discussions: (1) recital 4 as having a force majeure effect; (2) recital 4 as creating positive obligations to assist receiving States; and (3) the implications of recital 4 for interpretation of other provisions of the 1951 Convention. The article shows that the position taken by some of the drafters, notably with respect to the ability of States receiving large numbers of refugees to implement certain 1951 Convention obligations in the absence of international support, was questionable from the perspective of international treaty law. However, the discussions also foreshadowed doctrinal and practical issues in the application of the 1951 Convention regime that remain ongoing today, and provide important context for the considerable ambivalence that subsists with respect to the scope and nature of the burden-sharing principle in modern refugee law. © The Author(s) (2018). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

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policy approach United Nations refugee international law Syrian Arab Republic