The Trump administration's call to 'reframe' the global asylum system would harm people seeking safety

26 September 2025

Background: In mid-September 2025, media reports suggested that US President Donald Trump’s administration planned to call for “reframing the global approach to asylum” during an event on the sidelines of the United National General Assembly High-level Week. On 25 September, the US hosted a side event at UNGA headlined by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, titled The Global Refugee and Asylum System: What Went Wrong and How to Fix It. Speakers included representatives from Panama, Liberia, Bangladesh, and Kosovo.

The administration called for a “reframing” of the global approach to asylum, based on five “principles”:

• Every nation has the “right” to control its borders.
  
  
• There is no right to immigrate or to receive asylum or refugee status in the country of an individual’s choice.
  
  
• Refugee status is temporary, not permanent.
  
  
• Sovereign states, not transnational bodies, make the determination whether the conditions in a country of origin permit return.
  
  
• Every country must agree to accept expeditiously the return of its nationals.

The US is party to the 1967 Refugee Protocol, but not the 1951 Refugee Convention. Despite earlier reports, no indication was made in the event that the US would withdraw from the Protocol. However, consistent with an Executive Order issued by President Trump in February, the State Department is undergoing a review of all treaties to which the US is a party.

Q1: What does Amnesty International think about the proposal?

The most striking feature of the Trump administration’s proposal is the absence of any reference to the principle of non-refoulement, the cornerstone of the current global asylum system. Under this principle, states cannot return anyone to a place where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations.

More:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/09/trump-reframe-global-asylum-system-would-harm-people-seeking-safety/