Asylum — Types and Rules — KSLU Pil Notes
Asylum — Types and Rules
| Type | Meaning | Legal Basis | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Territorial Asylum | Refuge within the State’s own territory | General CIL + 1951 Refugee Convention | India granting asylum to Dalai Lama (1959) |
| Diplomatic Asylum | Refuge in an embassy abroad | Latin American regional custom — not universal IL | Julian Assange, Ecuador Embassy, London (2012–2019) |
| Extra-territorial Asylum | On warships or consulates abroad | Rare — not universally recognised | Warships in foreign ports |
Asylum Case — Colombia v. Peru (ICJ, 1950)
Facts: Colombia granted asylum to Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (Peruvian rebel leader) in its Lima embassy. Peru demanded his surrender, denying he was a political refugee.
ICJ Held: Diplomatic asylum is not a universal right under general international law. It must rest on a specific treaty or a sufficiently uniform and consistent regional custom — which Colombia failed to prove.
Significance: Diplomatic asylum has no standing under general IL. Only territorial asylum is universally protected.
Non-Refoulement — 1951 Refugee Convention
Art 33, 1951 Refugee Convention: No State shall expel or return (refouler) a refugee to a territory where their life or freedom would be threatened on grounds of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a social group.
This is the cornerstone of refugee law — widely regarded as jus cogens.