Right to asylum

[Jonathan Buhacoff]

The proposed right

No eligible asylum seeker shall be denied asylum.

Intent

To ensure that asylum is granted only to eligible asylum seekers, and to ensure that all eligible asylum seekers are granted asylum.

Eligibility

A person is eligible for asylum if they meet all of the following conditions:

1. A fear of persecution in their home country due to their protected personal characteristics, political opinion, or membership in a particular social or ethnic group

2. Never been an enemy of the state, a terrorist, a member of a terrorist organization, a violent criminal, or a member of a criminal organization

3. Agree to live by society’s rules and in accordance with its laws, and to fulfill their duties and obligations

4. Promise to follow and complete the asylum integration program (an obligation of the asylum program)

Discussion

The right to asylum is different from other rights in that it applies to people who are not yet part of society. The right to asylum means that a person who is not part of society, and has not previously consented to be governed according to society’s rules, may seek protection and shelter from persecution in another country.

A fear of persecution is the key eligibility requirement. If a person can move to another location in their home country to avoid persecution, they don’t need asylum. Generally, a person needs asylum if their government has been persecuting them, or persecution is imminent, or if someone else is persecuting them and their own government refuses to protect them.

Not being an enemy of the state, a terrorist, or a violent criminal is an important eligibility requirement. People who hate this country or have literally been working to damage or destroy it, or the people, can seek their asylum elsewhere — unless there is a warrant for their arrest, in which case they should be arrested immediately and their asylum application denied immediately.

An asylum seeker must agree to society’s laws and rules and consent to be governed according to society’s rules. This is an eligibility requirement because if an asylum seeker does not consent to this, we cannot grant asylum.

An asylum seeker must agree to follow and complete the asylum integration program. This is an eligibility requirement because people seeking asylum may have limited knowledge of the country, may not understand how society functions, and may not even understand the language. If a person does not consent to trying to integrate into society, we cannot grant asylum.

The right to asylum has some important limitations:

First, the people will protect and shelter a person seeking asylum only if the asylum seeker qualifies for asylum, agrees to live by society’s rules and in accordance with its laws, and agrees to all duties and obligations that are expected of a member of society. If a person does not agree to join the society, the society should not protect and shelter them because a situation will inevitably arise that a protected person does something illegal and suddenly it’s not clear what can be done with them, which rights they have or don’t have, which punishments can apply, and so on.

The asylum application establishes the asylum seeker’s identity and eligibility.

The identity and eligibility requirements are important because if people are granted asylum who are enemies of the country or are violent people, it will just be inviting trouble and it it will cause a lack of support for the asylum program which may eventually result in the termination of the program, and that will be bad for all future asylum seekers. Therefore, it is reasonable to require asylum seekers to meet the eligibility criteria.

Parole

When an asylum seeker’s identity or eligibility cannot be immediately established, the asylum seeker is granted parole so they can have time to gather the evidence they need to establish their identity and eligibility, and so the state can have time to verify the evidence presented and conduct its own research.

An asylum seeker is granted parole if they are eligible for asylum and the and need time to gather the evidence for the allegations in their asylum application.

Comparison with the United Nations:

Article 14 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” A society can only create the right of asylum to people arriving in that society, it cannot create it in other societies. The right to travel out of a country and the right to seek asylum in that country are the most that can practically be done in relation to this article. The article also states “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.” This is covered by our definition of the right of asylum that it is revoked if the person is found to have committed crimes in the other country, and that the person has the right to fair trial in determining whether or not this applies.

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