Part 2 Asylum, 6 The Principle of Non-refoulement—Part 2

Abstract

This chapter details how, under general principles of international law, State responsibility may arise directly from the acts and omissions of government officials and agents, or indirectly where domestic legal and administrative systems fail to implement the observance of international standards. The fact that the harm caused by State action may be inflicted outside the territory of the actor, or in an area identified by municipal law as an international zone, in no way diminishes the responsibility of the State. While the principle of non-refoulement does not entail a right for refugees to be granted asylum in a particular State, it does require States to ensure that whatever course of action they adopt, refugees are not sent—either directly or indirectly—to a place where their lives or freedom would be in danger on account of one of the five Convention grounds, or contrary to the principle of non-refoulement under human rights law. In order to give effect to those obligations consistently with the general rule, ‘States will be required to grant individuals seeking international protection access to the territory and to fair and efficient asylum procedures’. The chapter then looks at the relationship between the principle of non-refoulement and flight by sea.