The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) 2011 statistics on refugee populations residing by region are a stark reminder of the challenge facing states and civil society in the Asia Pacific. In 2011, Africa hosted 2,149,000 refugees; the Americas, Europe, and Middle East and North Africa hosted 513,500, 1,605,500 and 1,889,900 respectively, while the Asia Pacific hosted a staggering 3,793,900.1 The fact that 35 per cent of the world’s refugees reside in the Asia Pacific, coupled with the fact that 84 per cent of refugees displaced in Asia remain in the region,2 raises the questions why so few countries in the region are signatories to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (‘Refugee Convention’) or cognate rights instruments3 and why no formally binding regional agreement exists for the equitable sharing of responsibilities for refugees. Building on earlier works,4 the contributors to this collection take stock of regional and global developments and explore the historical and political environment for the reception of protection norms in the Asia Pacific. They assess the challenges confronting the implementation of international refugee law in the region, as well as the new opportunities for extending protection norms into national and regional dialogues. Lessons are sought from other regional responsibility sharing arrangements.