Who Qualifies For Asylum?

Qualifying for asylum depends on whether you are a refugee, as described in the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. It says a refugee is someone who is outside his or her country of origin because of a well-founded fear of persecution for one of five reasons:

• race
• religion
• nationality
• membership of a particular social group
• political opinion.

In almost any asylum application, there are many legal issues about these terms. Specialist help is vital. Under the Refugee Convention,the UK government can't send you back to a country where you could be persecuted. This means you can't be sent back to your country of origin until it has been shown that there is little or no risk to you. You will not have to leave the country until your case, and any appeal you make, has been finally decided. However, this only covers returning you to a country where you would be at risk, so you could be sent back to another safe country without your claim being considered. If it looks as though you would be at risk only in a certain part of your country, you may be refused asylum because you can return and live in another part or your country.

Asylum is meant to protect you from possible risks in the future, not just from what has happened in the past. So you might also be refused if the Home Office believes that circumstances have changed in your country, and you would no longer be at risk. It's often difficult to prove that you would definitely be at risk. You need to show that persecution would be a 'serious possibility'.

.: Who isn't covered.

The Convention says that certain types of people shouldn't qualify for asylum. These include people who have been involved in very serious criminal activity, or who are responsible for human rights abuse. There are also 'cessation clauses', which say that you could lose your status if,
for example:-

• circumstances in your home country improve significantly by the time the Home Office makes a decision
• you return to your own country after becoming a refugee.

.: Special cases.

Certain kinds of claim are more complicated than others. Where the claim is because of persecution by other groups in society, not by government forces, or where someone is fleeing from a civil war, the law can be very difficult to apply. This is also true in most cases where someone claims persecution because of 'membership of a particular social group'. If your claim falls into any of these categories, you will need expert advice.

.: Human Rights claims.

Since October 2000, you've been able to make a claim based directly on Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights .This prohibits torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. The UK would break the Human Rights Act if it sent someone back to a country where he or she would face such a risk. Unlike under the Refugee Convention, you don't have to show any particular reason for the inhuman treatment, or show that that country is to blame. If you can show that you would face treatment prohibited under Article 3, the Home Office must allow you to stay, and will grant you 'exceptional leave to remain'.