ABSTRACT
In 1948 the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed in Article 14 that “everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution”. Despite the subsequent enactment of the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the Refugee Convention), the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, regional human rights instruments taking their inspiration from the UN, and the activities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the extent to which national law and practice gives effect to the promise of protection indicated by this founding document of the contemporary human rights programme, remains debatable.
