The contemporary Refugee Regime was established in 1951 with the creation of the Office of the UNHCR and the adoption of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. One may identify six main pillars of refugee protection: i) refugee definition; ii) non-refoulement; iii) refugee status; iv) cooperation between State parties and UNHCR; v) international solidarity and cooperation; and vi) humanitarian and non-political character of asylum.

Fischel read Law, International Law, International Relations, and Politics & International Studies at Brasília, São Paulo, and Cambridge, and was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at The Graduate Institute (IHEID) in Geneva. He taught part-time at Milan, Berlin, Paris-II and Malaga, and served in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in various positions in all continents (1995-2025). Fischel has authored a book, book chapters, and articles in leading peer-reviewed journals and is an Editorial Board Member of the Oxford-based International Journal of Refugee Law.