"At international law, the refugee definition enshrined in Article 1A(2) of the Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol remains central. Yet over 70 years on, the meaning of its key terms is still widely perceived to be unclear and uncertain. Siren voices continue to warn against any attempt at further definition. How long must we brook such a lack of clarity? That is this study's abiding question. In trying to answer this question, this study does three main things. It seeks to address several 'framework' questions concerned with approaches to definition, interpretation, ordering and to the interrelationship between the definition's different elements. Next, it analyses each element of the definition, applying Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties (VCLT) rules in systematic fashion. In the process, it seeks to address the main interpretive positions that have been taken in UNHCHR, case law and academic materials regarding each element of the definition, evaluating their merits and demerits, and to propose solutions animated by a human rights approach. The third main thing this study does, which is seen as by far the most important, is to reflect on what propositions have been widely agreed and to try and assemble all of these in the one place so as to achieve a 'working definition'. The author seeks to argue that in fact there is much more agreement than many think about the meaning of key terms, that many of the main disagreements that have arisen have been resolved, and that it is now within our reach to concretise this working definition, the most practicable means being wholesale revision of the 1979 UNHCR Handbook"-
