Two Major Points of Refugee and Asylum Law: Ancient Jewish Law and The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees Jewish Law: c. 1200 - c. 300 B.C.E.
The Hebrew Scriptures--39 books by many authors--recorded the law the Israelites believed their God gave them. Christians and Muslims also founded their ethics on the Hebrew Scriptures. Christians know it as the Old Testament. Muslims regard the first five books, the Torah, as divine scripture.
The Torah contains laws God is said to have given to the Hebrew prophets, beginning with the mosaic laws--the Ten Commandments--given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The mosaic laws commanded respect for life and the property of strangers, as well as neighbors, by establishing rights in terms of duties (the right to life, for example, was expressed in the commandment not to kill). The asylum tradition in churches and synagogues, and the principle that one is innocent until proven guilty, also originate in Jewish law.
Sources: Peace Resource Center; http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/peace/peaceedu/binder2.html Human Rights: Here and Now
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees: 1951
The horrors of World War II were the catalyst for the international community to consider the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers. Along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the creation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), one of the products of this consideration was the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, adopted by the United Nations in 1951.
The Convention includes the guidelines used by the United States immigration service today; including the definition of a refugee as a person who has a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” As of 2002, 140 countries had ratified this Convention.
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