¹ U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 2Sínd Sess., Supp. No. 16, at 81.

² Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Third Session (U.N. Econ. and Soc. Council, Off. Ree, Third Year, 7th Sess., Supp. No. a, Doc. E/800), Annex A, Article 12.

³ Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Second Session (U.N. Econ. and Soc. Council, Off. Ree., Third Year, 6th Sess., Supp. No. 1, Doc. E/600), paragraph 48.

⁴ At the 121st meeting of the Third Committee.

⁵ U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/392.

⁶ U.N. Doc. E/1880.

⁷ U.N. Doc. E/2085/Add. 1.

⁸ At the 291st meeting of the Committee.

⁹ U.N. Doc. A/C.3/L.92.

¹⁰ U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/L. 184. See Memorandum by the Secretary-General on Activities of Various Organs of the United Nations in Connexion with the Right of Asylum: U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/7I3, paragraph 15.

¹¹ U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/L.191.

¹² Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Eighth Session (U.N. Ecom, and Soc. Council, Off. Ree., 14th Sess., Supp. No. 4, Doc. E/2256), paragraphs 202 to 204.

¹³ U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/L.454 and Rev. 1. The draft had the following wording:

• “1.

  “1. Responsibility for granting asylum to persons requesting it shall lie with the international community as represented by the United Nations.

• 2.

  2. Every person whose life, physical integrity or liberty is threatened, in violation of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, shall be regarded as entitled to seek asylum.

• 3.

  3. By granting asylum in accordance with articles 1 and 2, a State shall incur no international responsibility. Asylum granted by such a State shall be respected by all other States.

• 4. (a)

  4. (a) Irrespective of any action taken by particular States, the United Nations shall, in a spirit of international solidarity, consult with States as to the most effective means of providing help and assistance for the persons referred to in article 2.

• (b)

  (b) Other States shall examine, in a like spirit of solidarity, appropriate measures to lighten the burden of countries of first asylum, including admission to their territory of a certain number of persons first granted asylum in another State.

• 5.

  5. No one shall be subjected to measures, such as expulsion, return or rejection at the frontier, which would result in compelling him to return to or remain in a territory where his life, physical integrity or liberty would be threatened, in violation of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This principle shall not apply in the case of persons whom there are reasonable grounds for regarding as a danger to the security of the receiving country or who, having been convicted by a final judgment of a particularly serious crime, constitute a danger to the community of that country.”

¹⁴ Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Thirteenth Session (U.N. Econ. and Soc. Council, Off. Ree., 24th Sess., Supp. No. 4, Doc. E/2970/ Rev. 1), paragraph 210.

¹⁵ Ibid., paragraph 211.

¹⁶ Resolution 651 F (XXIV) of July 24, 1957.

¹⁷ U.N. Docs. E/CN.4/781 and Add. 1 and 2 and E/CN.4/785.

¹⁸ 9 U.N.T.S. 137.

¹⁹ Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Fifteenth Session (U.N. Econ. and Soc. Council, Off. Ree, 28th Sess., Supp. No. 8, Doc. E/3229), paragraphs 57 to 65.

²⁰ U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/L.517. The text was as follows:

“The General Assembly

Noting that article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that

• ‘(1)

  ‘(1) everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution;

• (2)

  (2) this right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations’;

  Considering it highly desirable that, where appropriate, this humanitarian provision should be applied in the spirit in which it was adopted;

  Recommends that in their practices the United Nations and States should base themselves on the following principles:

  Article 1. Every State has the right, in the exercise of its sovereignty, to grant asylum to persons entitled to invoke article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. No international responsibility shall be incurred thereby. Asylum thus granted shall be respected by all other States.

  Article 2. The international community, as represented by the United Nations, has the responsibility to concern itself with the safety and well-being of those who have left their own or another country because of persecution or well-founded fear of persecution.

  Article 3. No one entitled under article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to seek and to enjoy asylum shall be subject to measures, such as expulsion, return or rejection at the frontier, which would result in compelling him to return or remain in a territory where his life, physical integrity or liberty would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. This principle shall not apply in the case of persons whom there are reasonable grounds for regarding as a danger to the security of the receiving country or who, having been convicted by a final judgement of a particularly serious crime or offence, constitute a danger to the community of that country.

  Article 4. Where a country finds difficulty in continuing to grant asylum, whether because the number of persons involved exceeds its capacity to absorb them or for some other reason, it is the duty of other countries to take all appropriate steps, either in the forms of aid and assistance or admission to their territory, to the maximum extent that they find possible.

  The international community, as represented by the United Nations, has in such circumstances a special responsibility for securing international cooperation and for preventing a situation in which a country may find observance of article 3 beyond its powers.”

²¹ Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Fifteenth Session, paragraphs 68 to 74.

²² U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/793 and Add. 1 to 6.

²³ U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/796.

²⁴ U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/794 and Add. 1 to 3.

²⁵ See infra 126–27.

²⁶ Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Sixteenth Session (U.N. Econ. and Soc. Council, Off. Ree., 28th Sess., Supp. No. 8, Doc. E/3335), paragraphs 78 to 89.

²⁷ Ibid., paragraphs 90 to 108.

²⁸ Ibid., paragraphs 109 to 125.

²⁹ Ibid., paragraphs 126 to 133.

³⁰ Ibid., paragraphs 134 to 138.

³¹ Ibid., paragraphs 139 to 142.

³² Ibid., paragraph 147.

³³ Resolution 772 E (XXX) of July 35, 1960.

³⁴ U.N. Docs. A/3403 and Add. 1 to 5, A/4452/Add. 1, A/4793.

³⁵ U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 17th Sess., Annexes, agenda item 46, Report of the Third Committee (Doc. A/5359), paragraphs 18 to 25.

³⁸ The representative of Denmark, Mrs. Refslund Thomsen, at the 1200th meeting of the Committee.

³⁷ U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree., 17th Sess., Annexes, agenda item 46, Report of the Third Committee (Doc. A/5359), paragraphs 8 to 34.

³⁸ Resolution 1839 (XVII) of December 19, 1962.

³⁹ U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 20th Sess., 1336th plenary meeting.

⁴⁰ Resolution 2100 (XX) of December 20, 1965.

⁴¹ U.N. Doc. A/6367 and Add. 1 and 2.

⁴² The report of the Working Group is annexed to the Report of the Sixth Committee on the item (U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 21st Sess., Annexes, agenda item 85, Doc. A/6570).

⁴³ U.N. Doc. A/C.6/L.606; see Report of the Working Group, paragraph 33.

⁴⁴ U.N. Doc. A/C.6/L.588 and Add. 1.

⁴⁵ Article 2: “1. The situation of persons referred to in article 1, paragraph I, is, without prejudice to the sovereignty of States and the purposes and principles of the United Nations, of concern to the international community.

• 2.

  2. Where a State finds difficulty in granting or continuing to grant asylum, States individually or jointly or through the United Nations shall consider, in a spirit of international solidarity, appropriate measures to lighten the burden on that State.” (Amendments underlined).

⁴⁶ The text of the Declaration as proposed by the Working Group is not given as it is identical with the final text reproduced at the beginning of this article.

⁴⁷ Resolution 2203 (XXI) of December 16, 1966.

⁴⁸ Report of the Sixth Committee on the item (U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 22nd Sess., agenda item 89, Doc. A/6912), paragraphs 9 to 61.

⁴⁹ Ibid., paragraphs 6a to 65.

⁵⁰ Ibid., paragraph 69.

⁵¹ U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree., aand Sess., 1631st plenary meeting.

⁵² As stated by the representative of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Mr. Maksimenko, at the 920th meeting of the Sixth Committee.

⁵³ The French representative, Mr. Cassin, in the Drafting Committee of the Commission on Human Rights, at its second session in 1947 (U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/AC.1/SR.5).

⁵⁴ “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” 25 British Yearbook of International Law 374 (1948).

⁵⁵ U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/L.610.

⁵⁶ The representative of Israeli, Mr. Rosenne, at the 953rd meeting of the Sixth Committee.

⁵⁷ Ibid.; the substance of this exchange has also been incorporated in the Report of the Sixth Committee, (U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 21st Sess., Annexes, Agenda item 85, Doc. A/6570), paragraph 43.

⁵⁸ Cf. the author’s article on “Territorial asylum” in 6 Indian J. Int’l L. 173 (1968).

⁵⁹ For a list, cf. the author’s article on “Territorial asylum,” ibid., 180, fn 30.

⁶⁰ The views of the founding fathers on the right of asylum are set out in Mora, Garcia, International Law and Asylum as a Human Right 23–41 (Washington, 1956).Google Scholar See also Bolesta-Koziebrodzki, , Le Droit d’Asile 39–42 (Leyden, 1962)Google Scholar and Professor L. C. Green, Rapporteur of the Committee on the Legal Aspects of the Problem of Asylum of the International Law Association, Report of the Fifty-First Conference of the International Law Association Held at Tokyo, August 16–23, 1964, at 251–55 (1965).

⁶¹ Cf. the comments of the Netherlands (U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/78i/Add. 1), Spain (U.N. Doc. E/GN.4/781) and Yugoslavia (U.N. Doc. E/GN.4/781/ Add. 1) on the draft Declaration and the proposals for the inclusion of an individual right to asylum in the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (supra 95 and 96) ; cf. also the late Sir Hersch Lauterpacht in the debate on asylum of the Institute of International Law at its Bath Session in 1950, 43 Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International, Tome II, 200 and 204 (1950), and the statement by Professor Guggenheim at 204–05.

⁶² Pan American Union, Treaty Series No. 34, Washington 1968.

⁶³ 43 Am. J. Int’l L., Supp., 133 (1949).

⁶⁴ See Elfan Rees, “Century of the Homeless Man,” International Conciliation, No. 515, Nov. 1957.

⁶⁵ Resolution 428 (V) of December 14, 1950.

⁶⁶ 159 L.N.T.S. 199.

⁶⁷ Ibid., Article 3, paragraph 2.

⁶⁸ Resolution 8(1) of February 12, 1946.

⁶⁹ Resolution 62 (I) of December 15, 1946.

⁷⁰ Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Second Session (U.N. Econ. and Soc. Council, Off. Ree, Third Year, 6th Sess., Supp. No. 1, Doc. E/600), paragraph 46.

⁷¹ Cf. Summary Records of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons, 16th and 35th meetings (U.N. Docs. A/Conf.32/SR.16 and SR.35).

⁷² U.N. Doc. E/Conf.17/5 Rev.

⁷³ Resolution 1961 (XVIII) of December 12, 1963.

⁷⁴ Resolution 2081 (XX) of December 20, 1965.

⁷⁵ International Law Commission, ï6th and 20th meeting (U.N. Docs. A/CN.-4/SR.16 and SR.20); [1949] Yearbook of the International Law Commission 125-28, 148–50.

⁷⁶ See supra 101.

⁷⁷ U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 14th Sess., Sixth Committee, 609th meeting.

⁷⁸ 359 U.N.T.S. 273.

⁷⁹ The Belgian-German Extradition Agreement of January 17, 1958, 328 U.N.T.S. 173, and the Austrian-German Extradition Agreement of September 22, 1958, Bundesgesetzblatt of the Federal Republic of Germany (1960), Part II, No. 50, at 1341.

⁸⁰ Resolution 67 (14) of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

⁸¹ Recommendation 293 of September 26, 1961.

⁸² Cf. Wiebringhaus, H., “Le Droit d’Asile en Europe,” 13 Annuaire français de droit international 566–80 (1967)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weis, P., “Recent Developments in the Law of Territorial Asylum,” 1 Revue des Droits de l’Homme/Human Rights Journal 378–96 (1968).Google Scholar

⁸³ See supra 104.

⁸⁴ U.K. Cmnd. No. 3008.

⁸⁵ 1967, C.68.

⁸⁶ No. 75 of 1966.

⁸⁷ No. 53 of 1968.

⁸⁸ N.A.B. 37, 1968.

⁸⁹ S.C. 1967, C.90.

⁹⁰ Ibid., Section 11.

⁹¹ Ibid., Section 15 (1) (b) (i).

⁹² Ibid., Section 23 (1).

⁹³ In the United States where the Attorney General is authorized to withhold deportation of an alien to any country in which in his opinion the alien would be subject to persecution, the alien has the possibility of appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals and the decisions of the Board are subject to review by the Federal Courts.

In the United Kingdom an Immigration Appeals Act (1969, c.21) has been passed this year; it confers rights of appeals against administrative decisions to adjudicators and an Immigration Appeal Tribunal on Commonwealth citizens, and it enables provision to be made by Order in Council for conferring corresponding rights of appeal on aliens. Once the legislation has come into force, bona fide applicants for asylum will, in case of refusal, have a right of appeal to the Tribunal. There will also be a right of appeal against deportation orders and against directions for removal from the United Kingdom, in particular as regards removal to a particular country on the ground that the appellant would be subject to persecution there — the principle of non-refoulement.

⁹⁴ Canada also acceded on May 31, 1969, to the Agreement relating to Refugee Seamen, concluded at The Hague on November 33, 1957, which in Article 10 contains a provision relating to non-refoulement, as follows:

Twelve states are parties to the Agreement.

⁹⁵ See supra 130–31.

⁹⁶ 43 Annuaire de l’Institut de Droit International, Tome II, 242–56 (1950).

⁹⁷ Report of the Fifty-First Conference of the International Law Association Held at Tokyo, August 16–22, 1964, at 245–82 (1965).

⁹⁸ Ibid., 243.

⁹⁹ Bulletin of the Fifty-Third Conference of the International Law Association Held at Buenos Aires, August 25 to 31, 1968, at 8.

¹⁰⁰ Asylum Case (Colombia v. Peru), [1950] I.C.J. Rep. 266, 281.

¹⁰¹ Oppenheim, I, International Law 676 (8th ed. Lauterpacht, , 1955)Google Scholar; for Sir Kenneth Bailey’s statement, see U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree., 21st Sess., Sixth Committee, 922nd meeting.

¹⁰² Report of the Sixth Committee (U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 2and Sess., Annexes, agenda item, Doc. A/6912), paragraph 40.

¹⁰³ See supra 106 and 110.

¹⁰⁴ See supra 110–11.

¹⁰⁵ Report of the Sixth Committee (U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 22nd Sess., Annexes, agenda item 89, Doc. A/6912), paragraph 17. Cf. also the statement made by the representative of Norway, Mr. Solheim, on behalf of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway, at the 983rd meeting of the Sixth Committee in 1967, and the statement made by the representative of Denmark, Mr. Borch, on behalf of the five Nordic countries, at the 1631st plenary meeting of the General Assembly on the occasion of the adoption of the Declaration.

¹⁰⁶ Report of the Sixth Committee (U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree, 21st Sess., Annexes, agenda item 85, Doc. A/6570), paragraph 23. Cf. also Professor Green, L. C., Rapporteur of the Committee on the Legal Aspects of the Problem of Asylum of the International Law Association, Report of the Fifty-First Conference of the International Law Association Held at Tokyo, August 16–22 1964, at 280 (1965).Google Scholar

¹⁰⁷ [1950] I.G.J. Rep. 274–75.

¹⁰⁸ Ibid., 277–78, 288; Judge Azevedo (at 346–47) and Judge ad hoc Caicedo Castilla (at 360–74) dissented.

¹⁰⁹ Report of the Sixth Committee (U.N. Gen. Ass., Off. Ree., 21st Sess., Annexes, agenda item 85, Doc. A/6570), paragraph 14.

¹¹⁰ A similar co-operation was established in the past with earlier international organizations created for the protection of refugees.

¹¹¹ Article 35, paragraph 1, of the Convention reads:

“The Contracting States undertake to co-operate with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or any other agency of the United Nations which may succeed it, in the exercise of its functions, and shall in particular facilitate its duty of supervising the application of the provisions of this Convention.”

According to the Statute, the High Commissioner “shall assume the function of providing international protection, under the auspices of the United Nations, to refugees,” inter alia by supervising the application of international conventions for their protection.

¹¹² It provided that “Responsibility for granting asylum to persons requesting it shall lie with the international community as represented by the United Nations,” see supra note 13.

¹¹³ See supra III.

¹¹⁴ See supra 133; cf. also Oppenheim, I, International Law 678, fn. 2 (8th ed. Lauterpacht, 1955).Google Scholar

¹¹⁵ Article 1(3).

¹¹⁶ As to the interpretation of the words “where he may be subjected to persecution,” see supra 112.

¹¹⁷ At the 654th meeting of the Commission in 1960.

¹¹⁸ Report of the Colloquium, reproduced as U.N. Doc. A/AC.96/INF.40, at 14.

¹¹⁹ Cf. Weis, P., “Legal Aspects of the Convention of July 28, 1951 relating to the Status of Refugees,” 30 Br. Yb. Int’l L. 478, 481–83 (1953)Google Scholar; cf. also Weis, P., “The International Protection of Refugees,” 48 Am. J. Int’l L. 193, 198–99 (1954).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹²⁰ Report of the Working Group, paragraph 56.

¹²¹ The representative of the United States, Mr. Hargrove, at the 953rd meeting of the Committee in 1966.

¹²² Paragraph 56.

¹²³ See supra 104.

¹²⁴ Report of the Working Group, paragraph 60.

¹²⁵ See supra 114.

¹²⁶ Cf. in particular Lauterpacht, H., “Revolutionary Activities by Private Persons against Foreign States,” 22 Am. J. Int’l L. 116 (1928)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Preuss, L., “Revolutionary Propaganda by Private Persons against Foreign States,” 28 Am. J. Int’l L. 649 (1934)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kimminich, O., “Voelkerrechts-fragen der Exil-Politischen Taetigkeit,” 10 Archiv des Voelkerrecht 132 (1962–63) and the literature cited there.Google Scholar

¹²⁷ In particular Resolutions 110(II) of November 3, 1947, and 381 (V) of November 17, 1950.

¹²⁸ Schwelb, E., “The Influence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on International and National Law,” 53 Am. Soc. Int’l L., Proc., 217 (1959)Google Scholar; Schwelb, E., Human Rights and the International Community (1964).Google Scholar

¹²⁹ Proclamation of Tehran, adopted by the International Conference of Human Rights (U.N. Doc. A/Conf.32/41 ), paragraph 2.

¹³⁰ Waldock, H., “General Course of International Law,” in 106 Recueil des Cours 32–33 (II–1962).Google Scholar

¹³¹ Corfu Channel Case (Merits), [1949] I.C.J. Rep. 4, 22.

¹³² See supra 143–44.

¹³³ As mentioned above (supra 119 and fn. 59), in a number of states the individual has a right to claim asylum under municipal law. It is significant that even in countries where the granting of asylum is a matter of executive discretion, there is a noticeable tendency to provide the individual with legal remedies against the refusal of asylum (see supra 130–32 and fn. 93).