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from persecution. Indeed, non-refoulement, only prohibits measures that cause refugees to
return to persecution, it does not establish a duty on states to receive refugees.
Under the Refugees Convention, protection is only provided to those fleeing persecution
for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political
opinion, known as the nexus grounds. In contrast, the granting of asylum, in recognition a states
sovereignty may be applied in a much broader sense than the Refugees Convention. Indeed, the
Special Rapporteur of the International Law Commission has noted that there is no limit placed
on the forms of persecution that can result in the granting of asylum, in contrast to the forms of
persecution which open the way to refugee status. As such, asylum seekers may be fleeing more
general violence, the death penalty, war and conflict, torture or unfair prosecution. Unlike
the Refugees Convention, persecution under asylum does not have to be for one of the nexus
grounds, indeed such a decision to grant asylum is up to the discretion of the state.
II. Background
The concept of providing protection to those fleeing arrest by a pursuer has been used
throughout the centuries. Throughout the ages, asylum was offered as a way to provide mercy,
justice and fairness to those fleeing unjust punishment under the law. In ancient Greece, a person
in need of protection from a pursuer could enter a sacred place in order to claim supplication.
The Jewish Torah provided a form of asylum to those fleeing retribution for involuntary murder.
In Christianity, and within the Roman Empire, churches have historically been seen as place of
sanctuary. The right to asylum is also provided under Islamic Shariah law. Indeed, the concept
of asylum is said to be as old as humanity itself.
The United Nations1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the
1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees guides national legislation concerning political
asylum. Under these agreements, a refugee (or for cases where repressing base means has been
applied directly or environmentally to the defoul refugee) is a person who is outside their own
country's territory (or place of habitual residence if stateless) owing to fear of persecution on
protected grounds. Protected grounds include race, caste, nationality, religion,political
opinions and membership and/or participation in any particular social group or social activities.
Rendering true victims of persecution to their persecutor is a particularly odious violation of a
principle called non-refoulement, part of the customary and trucial Law of Nations.
These are the accepted terms and criteria as principles and a fundamental part in the 1951 United
Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees non-refoulementorder.[8]
Since the 1990s, victims of sexual persecution (which may include domestic violence, or
systematic oppression of a gender or sexual minority) have come to be accepted in some
countries as a legitimate category for asylum claims, when claimants can prove that the state is
unable or unwilling to provide.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_asylum
http://asherhirsch.com/2015/04/20/the-right-to-seek-asylum-in-customary-internationallaw/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/asylum
Article: The Right to Seek Asylum: A Dwindling Right?
https://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/v2i2/asylum.htm
Video: http://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/videos/right-to-asylum.html