Description

ASYLUM AND THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

by Nuala Mole, AIRE Centre, London, United Kingdom.

A key attribute of national sovereignty is the right of states to admit or exclude aliens from their territory. Only if exclusion would involve a breach of some other provision of international law are states bound to admit aliens. The concept of asylum is the most important example of the latter principle. Although Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights expressly protected the right to “seek and enjoy asylum from persecution”, this right is not found in the texts of other general instruments of international human rights law such as the ICCPR or the European Convention on Human Rights. When those instruments were drafted the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees was thought to constitute a lex specialis which fully covered the need.