Compliance with Non-Refoulement In Africa: The Lessons for Ethiopia
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Date
2020-02
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AAU
Abstract
The customary non-refoulement principle prohibits expulsion or return of refugees to a territory where their lives or freedom would be at real risk of persecution. Non refoulement is recognized under international and regional refugee and human rights treaties and has attained international customary law status. Compliance with non-refoulement requires states to ensure temporary admission of asylum seekers to conduct RSD and case by case assessment of the individual situation of asylum seeker and policy and practice of country of return. And any decision to return or deny asylum must be reviewed by independent body. For many decades African states has adhered to this principle. However, this paper argues currently African states often failed to observe their non-refoulement obligation, though practice differs from state to state. In the three African states analyzed in this paper, there is a stark shift towards unreasoned conflation of refugees to terrorist attacks or economic migrant label followed by asylum denial, deteriorated encampment and mass deportation to places where they may face calamities. Thus, the aim of this paper is to record and expose this dehumanization of refugees in Africa and to draw lessons for Ethiopia.
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Keywords
non-refoulement,customary law