Non-Refoulement

The term non-refoulement derives from the French refouler. It means to drive bac
k or repel.
Under the principle of non-refoulement (Article 33), it is obligatory for States
party to the 1951
Convention, not to return people by force, from countries of asylum to situation
s where their
life and or freedom may be under threat. In practice, States have sent back refu
gees on grounds
that they are a threat to their national security, public order or that the refuge
e status of the
individual asylum seeker is questionable or illegal.
In addition to the right to non-refoulement, the 1951 Convention grants refugees
the rights of
employment, housing, education, social security, documentation and freedom of mo
vement.
The definition of a refugee under the 1951 Convention, though general and of uni
versal application,
was narrow. It was limited to events occurring in Europe before 1 January 1951.
In the wake
of new events, additional refugees were generated across the world. The existing
definitions due
to the above mentioned reasons were unable to include the new categories of forc
ed migrants.
At this juncture, it was felt that a wider definition was needed to include the
newer situations
that emerged worldwide. Therefore, the 1951 Convention definition was amended by
the 1967
Protocol to the Convention. It removed both the time and the geographical limita
tions. Henceforth,
the 1951 Convention definition covered refugees generated after 1 January 1951 a
nd outside of
Europe, as well.
Situations arose on the African continent and other parts of the world, where pe
ople were
forced to leave their countries of origin not because of a fear of persecution,
but because of
war at home and the general violence that accompanied the decolonisation process
. The 1951
Convention worked well with the individual asylum seekers but now refugees arriv
ed in large
numbers. In such circumstances neither was it feasible to check if the motive fo
r seeking the
refugee status was due to a well founded fear of persecution or due to other facto
rs such as
famine, natural disaster, decolonisation or a combination of these. An expanded
definition was
needed to deal with the newer situations emerging across the world.