Part I State Obligations and Rights Protected, Ch.II Civil and Political Rights, Art.22: Freedom of Movement and Residence

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Article 22 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), which is a very dense provision insofar as it contains several rules and is addressed to different categories of holders. Indeed, it guarantees freedom of movement and circulation, protection against arbitrary and collective expulsion, as well as the prohibition of non-refoulement, and the right to seek and to receive asylum. This provision alone contains several substantive rights that are not always protected as such by other general human rights conventions, with the exception of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The structure of the provision is based on a balance between the individual rights' approach—the right of the individual in general, the right of the national of the State Party, and the right of the alien—and the prerogatives of the State, including the right to control the entry and stay of individuals on its territory. In order to respect this fragile balance, some of the rights and freedoms protected by Article 22 may be subject to limitations.