E/1979/95 page 4
Principles of protection and refugee rights
Asylum
15. Asylum is the primary and often the most urgent need of a person who leaves his country of origin for fear of persecution in order to seek refuge and protection elsewhere. Under general international law, there is no express obligation on States to admit asylum-seekers to their territory and, as yet, no convention on territorial asylum adopted at the universal level. 6/ Various important principles relating to asylum have, however, found expression in instruments adopted at both the universal and regional levels. Most importantly, there is a strong humanitarian tradition in favour of the admission of persons fleeing from persecution, which is illustrated by the significant numbers of asylum-seekers admitted by various States throughout the world.
16. Certain problems have, however, continued to arise in connexion with the grant of asylum, as mentioned in paragraph & above. The fact that certain States are only prepared to grant asylum on a temporary basis has substantially increased the need for UNHCR to seek opportunities for durable asylum elsewhere, sometimes as a matter of urgency.
17. As in previous years, there has been a tendency for negative or restrictive practices with regard to the grant of asylum to arise from considerations of a political, socio-economic or even administrative nature. As regards political considerations, it should be recalled that the Declaration on Territorial Asylum. adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 14 December 1967, stipulates that the grant of asylum by a State is "a peaceful and humanitarian act and that as such it cannot be regarded as unfriendly by any other State". Similarly, where considerations of a socio-economic nature are regarded as militating against the grant of asylum, it should be borne in mind that the same
Declaration provides that:
"Where a State finds difficulty in granting or continuing to grant asylum, States individually or jointly or through the United Nations shall consider, in a spirit of international solidarity, appropriate measures to lighten the burden on that State".
18. As regards arrangements for the examination of asylum applications, there is often a risk that officials on the land and sea frontiers of a State or at its airports might either be insufficiently conversant with responsibilities relating to the grant of asylum deriving from international instruments and/or may not be in possession of sufficiently explicit instructions for dealing with such cases. It was also for this reason that the Executive Committee, at its twenty-eighth session, adopted a number of conclusions on the determination of refugee status which is, of course, also relevant to the examination of asylum requests. In one of these conclusions, the Executive Committee recommended that:
6/ See paragraphs 25 and 26 below.
See also paragraphs 46 and 47 below.