:
11.
th
country diminish sharply and his claims on the right of
protection of other governments are at best uncertain. At this
point he enters a no-man's land in which he belongs to no-one and is dependent on others to recognise his claims for protection in
competition with others, in circumstances where the obligation to
guarantee human and civil rights may not be recognised.
Despite very real progress in the comparatively recent
past involving the development and codification of international
instruments that protect the extra-territorial rights of individuals such as those involving asylum and guarantees against
forcible repatriation, the extension of such basis rights to all
people in all parts of the world is far from being achieved.
After more than 30 years of direct experience with their
own human rights Covenant, the Europeans are still concerned at
the slow extension of the basic concept in Europe itself. The
situation in the rest of the world where many millions of people
are denied, by circumstances beyond their control, even the basic
human rights of adequate food and shelter, is chaotic and
disturbing.
The immediate challenge that we in Australia and
elsewhere in the developed world must accept is that increasingly
it is from these underprivileged areas that most refugees are coming.
Another fact of increasing importance is the demographic
dissimilarities between the developed and developing world. On
the one hand we have a rapid movement towards population stabilitý
and even decline in the developed nations, and on the other a
massive population build-up in the developing countries.
.../12.