E/CN.4/1503 pages 15/16
"'De facto refugees' are persons not recognized as refugees within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Re- fugees of 28
of 28 July 1951 as amended by the Protocol of 31 January 1967 relating to the Status of Refugees and who are unable or, for reasons recognized as valid, unwilling to return to the country of their nationality or, if they have no nationality, to the country of their habitual residence."
even the
The General
32. In the case of asylum, neither the concept nor term itself appears in the 1951 Convention.
Assembly in an attempt to overcome this lacuna in the framework
of international humanitarian law adopted as an initial step the "United Nations Declaration of Territorial Asylum" in its Resolution 2312 (XXII) of 14 December 1967.
33. Subsequent efforts to codify the law
to codify the law of asylum did not
yield satisfactory results. On the contrary, when, at the intiative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations convened a Conference of Plenipotentiaries on Territorial Asylum in Geneva in early 1977, the tendency on the part of States to safeguard their sovereign prerogatives appeared to be so marked that instead of making progress for the benefit of the individual, the debates indicated that any tangible results might actually represent a step backwards. The Conference adopted only two articles and adjourned sine die.