Refugees and Asylum

Asylum is the power of a state to to admit an alien seeking refuge from persecution or prosecution into its territory and placing him under its protection. Though widely practiced, this is not a principle of international law.

There are 2 kinds of asylum: political and diplomatic. Territorial asylum exists if there is a treaty or there is established usage. It depends on the liberal attitude of the receiving state and is based on territorial supremacy. Diplomatic asylum exists also if there is an existing treaty or established usage. It is granted in very limited circumstances and very definite limitations or when the life or liberty of the person claiming asylum is under threat.

The Philippines does not grant diplomatic asylum except to the diplomatic corps and their families and representatives. It may, on humanitarian grounds, be granted to those in danger of mob violence and only for as long as that violence exists.

A refugee is a person outside his home country or a stateless person outside the country of his habitual residence because of persecution of his race, religion, nationality or political opinion and can't be protected by his home country either because of fear or actual harm or can't go back to the country he habitually resides it if he's a stateless person.

Refugee status consists of the following elements:

1.) He is outside his home country or, if stateless, outside the country where he habitually resides.

2.) Lacks national protection.

3.) Fears persecution.

Refugees are treated as stateless persons, whether de jure or de facto, and the host state is obliged to grant them temporary asylum. Host states can't expel  refugees or return them to their home country (non-refoulement.)