In International law, states have the right to decide whether or not to allow entry to aliens. Nevertheless, foreigners arriving at the borders or in the territory of a state must be treated humanely and must not be forced to return to the country where they may have to face inhuman and degrading treatment. This principle is known as non-refoulement or the right not to be returned to a country of persecution, and has been described as “the undisputed cornerstone of refugee law”. The principle is applicable to any refugees, asylum-seekers or aliens who need some form of shelter from the state where they might have to face serious violations of human rights.
This principle has been codified in Article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention and has also found place in international law, in human rights treaties and in international customary law. However, despite receiving such wide recognition, there is no clarity on the point as to what should be the precise content of the principle. The principal element of non-refoulement is that a refugee or
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It is generally accepted that the prohibition of refoulement of refugees, as enshrined in Article 33 of the 1951 Convention and complemented by non-refoulement obligations under international human rights law, satisfies these criteria and constitutes a rule of customary international law. In the sixth session of the Executive Committee of the High commissioner’s programme, it was noted that the fundamental principle of non- refoulement is an overriding legal principle having a normative character independent of international instruments. Being a part of customary international implies that principle of non-refoulement in the context of refugees entails two
One of the more disconcerting aspects of Bill C-31 is the newly adopted Designated Country of Origin (DCO) legislation which has permanently labeled particular nations as “safe”. Consequently, individuals claiming refugee status who originate from these countries no longer have the same rights and privileges afforded to their refugee counterparts from other nations (“Overview of C-31,” 2013). In turn, this has led to a dichotomy between those who view this change as necessary in order to diminish the influx of embellished and falsified refugee claims and those who view this policy as discriminatory and prejudiced towards people originating from certain nations.
My essay focuses on discrimination as one of the main challenges that refugees face. I discuss some instances of discrimination that occurred in the book, whether based on race or culture,
The Case of Reparations written by Ta-Nehisi Coates describes the struggle of homeownership for African Americans, and discusses the need of reparations. The author explains the story of Clyde Ross, an African American from Mississippi who wanted to own a home in North Lawndale, Chicago. However, he was sucked into a system of having all the responsibilities of home ownership, but still had to pay rent, which means he did not actually own his home. Unfortunately, this happened to many African Americans in Chicago. The author’s purpose is to create awareness of why many African Americans do not own homes, the creation of all white or all black neighborhoods and the government’s involvement (Coates 2014).
One of Australia’s biggest moral wrongdoings that has been continued to be overlooked is the providing of safety for refugees. Under the article 14, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it states that everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. It is not in anyway, shape or form illegal to seek asylum from maltreatment. Australia is obliged under international law to: offer protection, give support, ensure that any individual is not sent back unwillingly to the country of their origin. A report made by
Condé, H. Victor. A Handbook on International Human Rights Terminology Human Rights in International Perspective; V. 8 Lincoln University of Nebraska Press, 2004.
Although, asylum seekers and refugees are given a few options if they feel as though their rights are being breached, like they can apply to tribunals and courts to view their visa related decisions, they can also make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission about their human rights being breached in immigration detention centres, yet they do not have control over who enters the country, the government is not obliged to comply with the recommendations that are made. Although the government has made few attempts to comply with the human rights obligations towards asylum seekers and refugees by introducing new policies and prioritising the safety of the children in these detention camps, there are currently still many breaches towards their rights that the government continues to adapt, therefore they are still constituting a breach of international law.
As a signatory to the UN 1951 refugee convention, we have already agreed, not to return asylum seekers or to detain them indefinitely. In 2001, the Tampa incident brought disrepute to us as we failed to take the right action. Another wave of backlash irrupted when Indonesian fishing vessel codenamed SEIV X sank in northern waters. The UN is highly critical on the practice of mandatory detention over long periods. As a law abiding nation, we need to keep our citizens well informed of our obligations under UN convention so that we can collectively meet our obligations in true spirit. Once Australians realise that we are providing over 200,000 migrant visas annually and the asylum seekers would occupy less than 2% of it and irrespective of the fears mongered by politicians, almost 93% of asylum seekers who arrived by boat in the have been recognized as “genuine” refugees by Australian authorities and the popular “country shoppers” or “economic migrant” stories do not represent the reality, it is not difficult to develop a national consensus on this ongoing, unavoidable issue in an overpopulated world with a massive imbalance in resource
According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugee is a term applied to anyone who is outside his/her own country and cannot return due to the fear of being persecuted on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership of a group or political opinion. Many “refugees” that the media and the general public refer to today are known as internally displaced persons, which are people forced to flee their homes to avoid things such as armed conflict, generalized violations of human rights or natural and non-natural disasters. These two groups are distinctly different but fall ...
Those who do not fear persecution are not considered in this definition, for instance, people escaping from natural disasters, because they do not have a fear of persecution. In addition, even though the individuals do face persecution, they are not considered as refugees if they are not ‘on the basis of’ of one of the protected grounds. Even those who face persecution on the basis of a protected ground, they cannot be declared as refugees because they are not outside their country of citizenship. The most controversial notion is that those who have been driven from their homes but who have not crossed international borders, so-called ‘Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs), are not in the definition of refugee, even though they have all the characteristics of a refugee except that they have not crossed an international border. The UNHCR has played their part in helping such persons in the last thirty or so years, but has still not considered them as refugees which makes them hard to have full benefits of what refugees should get. Hence, Lister aims to portray that these restrictions have a rational
In this paper I will argue that America should pay reparations to black communities that have suffered most from institutionalized racism. My view is not that reparations should be paid via checks mailed by the federal government, of an undeterminable sum, to families that are most eligible, but rather, through changes in policy. These policies would tackle racial inequality at it most obvious sources, the wage gap, the mistreatment of black Americans by our criminal justice system, quality of education, and the disparity in housing between black and white Americans.
When lines of identity inevitably blend, relative jurisprudence must be exercised. Lines make excluding circles and methods of excluding people from asylum; our international community divides into unwelcome and welcome nations. As discourse, cultural identity means translating beliefs and feelings from one culture to another. In the process of translation, a screen of cultural values filters understanding of the values and experience of the “other.” The simple word “refugee” evokes images and stories particular to a collectively defined identity, invoking “an image of the radicalized other” (Daniel 272).
In the past two decades, there has been much turmoil throughout Serbia, and without any consistency or certainty for the nation, it has led to frustration and anger for the people. They have an unfortunate past of Human Rights violations and particular regions, such as Vojovodina, have been placed on Human Rights Watch by the European Parliament. Many of these issues began with the ethnic cleanings issues during the war in Bosnia. After June of 1999, International Red Cross identified 150,000 Serbs who had fled from terror, intimidation and primarily ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Metohija, a province of Serbia. Only about 6,000 people have been able to return home since, making Serbia Europe’s country with the most refugees. The UN is in the process of trying to get as many of these people to return as possible, but efforts have proved difficult. In addition, in this same province, nearly 1,000 Ser...
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), G.A. res. 217A (III), U.N. Doc A/810 at 71.
Nationality is between a country and a person, sometimes the people who are no relate to any country, call stateless. Also some of the stateless can be refugees, these two groups of people is care by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Nationless is a very big problem; it may affect more than 10 billion people in this world. Everyone in the world can be having their human right, but some activity in country only able nationals to participate, for example: election. Also much of the stateless didn't have their right, they may never get the ID of the country, just get in to jail, losing the chance of education and health services or can’t get a job (UNHCR, 2014). This article is talking about what power of the nation states has to manage issues and effect the beyond national boundaries. By the refugee Convention (1967), refugees can be applying t person who is fear to persecute by race, religion, nationality, or the member of a social group and government. In this person is don't want himself protect by that country who fear, also don't want to return to that country. By the divide of UNHCR, there are four types of people, which they care: Asylum-Seeker, Stateless people, Internally Displaced People and Returnees. Asylum-Seeker refers to the person who is finding the international protection, not all the asylum-seeker final can be a refugee, but all the refugees begin is an asylum-seeker. Stateless people refer to who are not relating to any country and national. Internally displaced people refer to the people who are forced to leave their home because of the wars, or some human problem, and getting in to another country from the border. Returnees refer to the people who return to their own country, they are supported by UNHCR when they arrive (UNHCR, 2014). The nation state is a country; they have the political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity. A country is mix by culture and nation that mean a nation state may in the same place. Much of the nation state is forms by a people with a polity
The international law is the fundamental basis of sovereignty and equality of all states. It promotes peace, order, and justice to the international society. The effectiveness of the international law is also anchored to the international community whether they will follow or not. It is important that international community has rules and obligation to follow in order to prevent chaos in the society. The development of international law led to the understanding of different policies and sanctions for the states. It deals with conflict of the states to relieve destructive conflict. The international law is agreed upon by the international community but there is no enforcing body unlike in the domestic law. State has been relying to treaties and international agreements for the prevention of war.