The Right to Asylum: A Case Study with Particular Reference to Somali and Eritrean Asylum-seekers and Refugees in Ethiopia
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Date
2011-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
A number of factors led to the gestation of this research into a relatively less
developed jurisprudential area of human rights law: The right to asylum forti fied
by the right of non-refoulement.
The first factor is the survival instinct which is shared by all humanity including
myself and which is gradually gaining importance and stipulated in to
jurisprudence. It is this factor to a varied degree that continuously derives
people. This natural tendency of ensuring survival and perpetuation by avoiding
pain and seeking pleasure leads people to move across the globe. This is
typically manifested in forced displacement. Within that still broad category one
finds refugees who are in need of international protection because of plight
caused by serious threat to their life, liberty or security of person and violation of
other fundamental human rights in their country of origin.
The second motivating factor is the objective current Political dynamism in the
Horn of Africa .The recent escalation ot the crisis in Somalia and the human
rights situation in Eritrea has driven a significant number of refugees into
Ethiopia. Due to its location, Ethiopia cannot escape the reverberations from the
contemporary political uncertainty in the region that calls for this timely work.
This case study is a key to a true appreciation and understanding of the plight of
these protection seekers, the situation of their rights in practice in light of the
legal and procedural standards required for the treatment of persons seeking
asylum in Ethiopia derive from fundamental respect for the dignity of the
individual and from the legal obligations undertaken by governments by virtue of
accession to the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status
of Refugees, the 1969 OAU Convention, other relevant international human
rights instruments and the national law on asylum- a reflection on Ethiopia 's
heritage of providing sanctuary- unfortunately very little known to Ethiopians.
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Keywords
Right to Asylum, Reference to Somali and Eritrean Asylum