Turin's CIE - International University College of Turin

XII. CIE, POLITICAL ASYLUM AND INTERNATIONAL
HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION
“So often the world sits idly by, watching ethnic conflicts flare up, as if these were mere
entertainment rather than human beings whose lives are being destroyed. Shouldn't the existence
of even one single refugee be a cause for alarm throughout the world?”
- Urkhan Alakbarov
“In my country there are troubles right now. Why do they put me in this centre? My family in Libya
was affected a lot by the war in Libya. My brother was burnt alive and my father was killed. I
escaped from Libya because of the war and I got to Tunisia. From Tunisia I left for Italy.”
- Interview 22
International Law
1. LEGAL FRAMEWORK: THE RIGHT TO ASYLUM
As conflicts around the world have multiplied along bloody ethno-political and religious lines,
governments are tasked with feeding, clothing and according rights to asylum seekers who have
fled their countries of origin. At the time the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees 137 was signed in the city of Geneva, governments anticipated a speedy resolution to the
“refugee crisis” 138 . However, this hope for the refugee crisis to be short-lived was both mistaken
and short-sighted; the problems with adequately assisting refugees are neither new nor
unusual, except perhaps in the scale at which it took place during the 20 th century 139 .
Throughout the history of human civilizations, the expulsion of groups of people by other more
powerful groups has been commonplace. Language, culture and religion are but some of the
many factors that foster antagonism and arouse intolerance towards “the Other” and history is
regrettably replete with such examples. However, the difficulty of arriving at an international
consensus regarding the term “asylum” is equally understandable, given the plurality of those
who could or have been called asylum seekers at different times in history.
The law governing asylum seekers’ rights is broad and multi-faceted and it has been
incorporated in domestic, regional and global treaties, covenants, legislation, norms and
regulations. The right to seek asylum is expressed in Article 14(1) UDHR:
“14(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from
persecution”.
Article 1(A)(2) of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (as amended by the 1967
Protocol) defines a refugee as:
137 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, opened for signature 28 July 1951, 189 U.N.T.S.150 (entered
into force 22 April 1954).
138 Interestingly, the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees was a post created with an initial period
of three years, after which it was expected to cease. Ray Wilkinson, “The Refugee Convention at 50…”,
Refugees: The Wall Behind which Refugees can Shelter 2(123), 2001, 2.
139 The right to secure asylum is one that was recognised by the Greeks and Egyptians, and a limited
understanding of the right to asylum was first codified in law by King Ethelbert of Kent in about 600 A.D.
75 | P a g e