The Right to Asylum: A Hidden History

Abstract

Drawing on Australian examples, this chapter explores twentieth- and twenty-first-century debates about the right to grant asylum (referred to here as the ‘right of asylum’) and the right to seek, enjoy and be granted asylum (the ‘right to asylum’). It argues that in many countries, including Australia, the right to asylum—as contemplated, for example, by the drafters of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights—no longer features in public debate. Instead, the rights of asylum seekers are discussed in terms of the 1951 Refugee Convention, and discussions about asylum tend to be informed by international refugee law, rather than by international human rights law.

Research for this chapter was supported by Australian Research Council (ARC) discovery grants. I benefited greatly from discussions I had with Savitri Taylor, who has been collaborating with me on a project about the history of the right to asylum.