Personal Beliefs and Risk of Danger in Case of Return to the Origin Country

Abstract

The principle of non-refoulment is a rule of customary international law that is binding on all States, and which becomes fundamental to the right of asylum. It ensures the protection of persons who are persecuted because of particular fears or based on their personal ideas or beliefs, and who risk being subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment if returned to their country of origin or a third country. It thus prohibits refoulement, expulsion, or extradition to a State where there is a serious risk to the life and integrity of persons. This obligation protects them regardless of their official recognition, including asylum seekers whose status has not yet been determined. Despite the recognition of this principle in numerous international and regional instruments, there is evidence of non-compliance. There is extensive jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on the effective guarantees that States must provide to protect the applicant against arbitrary refoulement, direct or indirect, to the country of flight, which insists on the duty to assess the existence of a real risk of ill-treatment that he or she may face upon return, professing and practising his or her ideas or beliefs.