ABSTRACT

Originating with the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, governments in Latin America and the Caribbean have met on each ten-year anniversary to review new challenges facing refugees in the region and to define a common framework of principles, plans and programmes in response. This Cartagena framework, and the process behind its adoption, engage substantive cooperation among a wide range of states in the global South. Both are pertinent to the study of South–South approaches since they represent an unparalleled example of regional state-based humanitarian cooperation in the refugee field. This chapter describes how this framework was historically and conceptually developed. It then outlines distinctive components of this unique model of humanitarian cooperation on refugees. Finally, it suggests that, while the Cartagena framework and process offer a highly visible example of inter-state cooperation on refugees, its contribution to our understanding of South–South approaches is not without complexities.