Asylum
196. The United Kingdom fully meets its obligations under the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and gives asylum to those with a well-founded fear of persecution. The number of applicants has increased fivefold in the last 10 years, although the proportion of successful applicants decreased from 60 per cent in 1981 to 25 per cent in 1988. This is not because criteria are now more stringent, but because increasing numbers of refugees are not fleeing political persecution, but are in reality economic migrants with a (perfectly understandable) desire to improve their conditions. It would however be unfair to allow economic migrants to settle as though they were refugees and it would cause delay and frustration to genuine refugees and to the majority of immigrants who follow the normal procedures (50,000 in 1988).
197. There is no full right of appeal exercisable while in the United Kingdom for those who seek asylum at the port of entry. There is no such right for the majority of passengers refused leave to enter on other grounds, and to single out asylum seekers for special treatment would encourage applications for asylum. The lessons from other countries, particularly in Europe, which have such a system, is that delays soon run into years as appeals go from lower to higher courts. While waiting for a hearing, asylum-seekers establish themselves and start families and, if they fear they will not be successful, cannot be traced. This again is inequitable both to genuine political refugees and to normal immigrants.
Extradition
198. The United Kingdom has to engage in two types of extradition, foreign and Commonwealth. In addition, a simplified form of extradition, the backing of warrants procedure, operates between the Republic of Ireland and Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales. Each type is subject to legislation: the Extradition Act 1870, the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967 and the Backing of Warrants (Republic of Ireland) Act 1965. The 1870 and 1867 Acts have now been consolidated in the Extradition Act 1989. Avenues of appeal are set out in the extradition legislation, and in foreign and Commonwealth cases there is also a discretion available to the Home Secretary to refuse to surrender a fugitive. Additionally, it is a long-standing principle enshrined in United Kingdom legislation that persons should not be extradited if they are accused or convicted of crimes of a political character. It is also illegal for deportation powers to be used as a form of disguised extradition.
199. Extradition law also embodies the principle that fugitives should be surrendered only for acts which are offences not only against the law of the requesting State but which, if committed within the jurisdiction of the requested State, would also constitute offences against its own law. In addition, the offence for which the fugitive is sought must be extraditable under the law of both States. It is a generally accepted feature of extradition practice that the requesting State should specify the crimes for which the fugitive is sought and that the requested States should exercise some control over the prosecution of the surrendered fugitive for other crimes committed before his surrender.