{"id":7069,"date":"2026-07-30T03:54:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/?p=7069"},"modified":"2026-07-30T04:46:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T04:46:56","slug":"all-countries-should-obey-the-principle-of-non-refoulement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/2026\/07\/30\/all-countries-should-obey-the-principle-of-non-refoulement\/","title":{"rendered":"All countries should obey &#8220;The principle of non-refoulement&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gist of the Principle of Non-Refoulement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Core Definition:<\/strong> The principle of non-refoulement is a fundamental rule under international human rights, refugee, humanitarian, and customary law that prohibits States from transferring, expelling, or returning individuals to a country where they would face torture, cruel or degrading treatment, persecution, or other irreparable harm.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Universal Scope:<\/strong> It applies unconditionally to all individuals regardless of citizenship, legal status, or nationality, and operates wherever a State exercises effective control or jurisdiction\u2014even outside its physical territory.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Broader Protection in Human Rights Law:<\/strong> Under international human rights law (IHRL), protection is absolute with no exceptions. Courts and human rights bodies extend this protection beyond physical torture to include risks such as death row, severe gender-based violence, flagrant trial unfairness, and severe socio-economic harm like a total lack of vital medical care.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>State Responsibilities:<\/strong> States are legally obligated to set up individual, due-process assessment mechanisms, provide legal entry\/stay mechanisms (temporary or permanent status), and integrate human-rights-focused search and rescue and border management practices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Understanding Non-Refoulement: A Core Pillar of Human Rights<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No individual should ever be forced back into harm&#8217;s way. Under international human rights law, the principle of <strong>non-refoulement<\/strong> guarantees that no person\u2014regardless of their migration or citizenship status\u2014can be returned or transferred to a country where they face a genuine risk of torture, ill-treatment, persecution, or other irreparable harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike standard refugee frameworks, the human rights scope of non-refoulement is absolute and broad. International courts and human rights treaty bodies recognize that returning individuals to face extreme conditions\u2014such as severe medical neglect, gender-based violence, or flagrant denial of fair trial rights\u2014violates fundamental human rights obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Upholding this principle requires governments to ensure due process, conduct individual assessments, and provide safe legal avenues for stay to protect vulnerable migrants and uphold human dignity at international borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#HumanRights #InternationalLaw #MigrationRights #RefugeeProtection #NonRefoulement<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The principle of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/Documents\/Issues\/Migration\/GlobalCompactMigration\/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">non-refoulement<\/a> is a core rule of international law that bans countries from forcing a person back to a place where they face torture, cruel treatment, or threats to life and freedom. It protects refugees, asylum seekers, and any individual at risk, regardless of their legal status. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/Documents\/Issues\/Migration\/GlobalCompactMigration\/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aLPpd8H8CBQ&amp;t=1\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xN0rMiwZu10\">3<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Non-refoulement\">4<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/help.unhcr.org\/global\/rights-and-duties\/\">5<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"526\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-203.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7070\" srcset=\"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-203.png 526w, https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-203-232x300.png 232w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 526px) 100vw, 526px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Core Rules and Scope<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Universal Protection:<\/strong> Applies to anyone facing severe harm, even without official refugee status.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>No Return to Danger:<\/strong> Prohibits deporting or turning away people at borders or sea.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Customary Law:<\/strong> Binding on all global states, even if they have not signed specific refugee treaties. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.refworld.org\/policy\/legalguidance\/unhcr\/1997\/en\/36258\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aLPpd8H8CBQ&amp;t=1\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Non-refoulement\">3<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Main Exceptions and Limits<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Security:<\/strong> Rare exceptions exist if a person poses a proven danger to the host country.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Serious Crimes:<\/strong> Individuals convicted of extremely dangerous local crimes may face limits, though never standard torture risks. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.refworld.org\/policy\/legalguidance\/unhcr\/1997\/en\/36258\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xN0rMiwZu10\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ein.org.uk\/news\/un-expert-stresses-tougher-migration-policies-must-not-breach-principle-non-refoulement\">3<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>The principle of non-refoulement under international human rights law<\/em><\/strong><br><strong><em>Under international human rights law, the principle of non-refoulement guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm. This principle applies to all migrants at all times, irrespective of migration status.<\/em><\/strong><br><strong><em>What is the principle of non-refoulement? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The principle of non-refoulement forms an essential protection under international human rights, refugee, humanitarian and customary law. It prohibits States from transferring or removing individuals from their jurisdiction or effective control when there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be at risk of irreparable harm upon return, including persecution, torture, illtreatment or other serious human rights violations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Under international human rights law the prohibition of refoulement is explicitly included in the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED).<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In regional instruments the principle is explicitly found in the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention of Torture, the American Convention on Human Rights, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. International human rights bodies, regional human rights courts, as<br>well as national courts have guided that this principle is an implicit guarantee flowing from the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. Human rights treaty bodies regularly receive individual petitions concerning non-refoulement, including the Committee Against Torture, the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What is the scope of the principle of non-refoulement? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The prohibition of refoulement under international human rights law applies to any form of removal or transfer of persons, <strong>regardless of their status,<\/strong> where there are <strong>substantial grounds for believing that the returnee would be at risk of irreparable harm upon return <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(a) on account of torture, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(b) ill-treatment or <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(c) other serious breaches of human rights obligations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As an inherent element of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, <strong>the principle of non-refoulement is characterised by its absolute nature without any exception. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this respect, the scope of this principle under relevant human rights law treaties is broader than that contained in international refugee law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The prohibition applies to all persons, irrespective of their citizenship, nationality, statelessness, or migration status, and it applies wherever a State exercises jurisdiction or effective control, even when outside of that State\u2019s territory.<\/strong><br>The prohibition of refoulement has been interpreted by some courts and international human rights mechanisms to apply to a range of serious human rights violations, including torture, and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, flagrant denial of the right to a fair trial, risks of violations to the rights to life, integrity and\/or freedom of the personal, serious forms of sexual and gender-based violence, death penalty or death row, female genital mutilation, or prolonged solitary confinement, among others. Some courts and some international human rights mechanisms have further interpreted severe violations of economic, social and cultural rights to fall within the scope of the prohibition of non-refoulement because they would represent a severe violation of the right to life or freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. For example, degrading living conditionsviii, lack of medical treatment, or mental illnessx have been found to prevent return of persons.<br><strong>Heightened consideration must also be given to children in the context of non-refoulement,<\/strong> whereby actions of the State must be taken in accordance with the best interests of the child. In particular, a child should not be returned if such return would result in the violation of their fundamental human rights, including<strong> if there is a risk of insufficient provision of food or health services.<\/strong><br><strong>How to respond to the protection needs of migrants according to the principle of non-refoulement? States<\/strong> have a legal obligation under international human rights law to uphold the principle of non-refoulement, including to ensure that a range of practical and human rights-based protection mechanisms are in place:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mechanisms for assessment related to the principle of non-refoulement.<\/strong> States should put in place mechanisms and allocate resources to ensure that the IHRL protection needs of all migrants can be assessed individually and with due process, including as a supplement to asylum determination mechanisms.xii<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mechanisms for entry and stay related to the principle of non-refoulement.<\/strong> States should establish mechanisms for entry and stay for those migrants who are unable to return under IHRL, in order to ensure the principle of non-refoulement, as well as on other grounds such as ensuring torture rehabilitation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>xiii Administrative and legislative mechanisms should be set up to grant legal status to migrants who cannot return, in the form of temporary, long-term or permanent status.<br>xiv For more information, see:<br>OHCHR, What do we mean by protection for migrants? (2018)<br>OHCHR, Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders (2014)<br>i ECtHR, Othman (Abu Qatada) v United Kingdom, No. 8139\/09, 17 January 2012, para 235, 258.<br>ii Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31, para 12.<br>iii Inter American Convention on Human Rights, art. 22(8). IACtHR, Pacheco Tineo Family v. Bolivia, Judgment of November 25, 2013,<br>para 135.<br>iv CAT, Njamba and Balikosa v Sweden, No. 322\/2007, 3 June 2010, para 9.5; CEDAW, General Recommendation No. 32, para 23.<br>v Human Rights Committee, Judge v Canada, No. 829\/1998, 20 October 2003, para 10.3; ECtHR, Soering v United Kingdom, No.<br>14038\/88, 7 July 1989, para 111.<br>vi Human Rights Committee, Kaba v Canada, 21 May 2010, para 10.1; CEDAW, General Recommendation No. 32, para 23..<br>vii Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 20, 1994, para 6.<br>viii ECtHR, MSS v Belgium and Greece, 30696\/09, 21 January 2011.<br>ix Human Rights Committee, C v Australia, No. 900\/1999; ECtHR, Paposhvili v Belgium, 41738\/10, 13 December 2016, IACtHR, Advisory<br>Opinion OC-21\/14, 19 August 2014, para 229.<br>x Human Rights Committee, A.H.G. v Canada, No. 2091\/2011, 5 June 2015, para 10.4.<br>xi CRC, General Comment No. 6, para 27 (see also para 84).<br>xii CAT, General Comment No. 4 (2017) on the implementation of article 3 of the Convention in the context of article 22. Para. 13.<br>xiii Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture, A\/HRC\/37\/50 26 February 2018, para. 40; CAT, General Comment No. 4 (2017) on the<br>implementation of article 3 of the Convention in the context of article 22, para 22.<br>xiv CAT, Seid Mortesa Aemei v Switzerland (1997), Comm. No. 34\/1995<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">READ ALSO:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Detail how this applies in <strong>regional and local laws<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provide examples of <strong>recent legal cases<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Outline the <strong>history<\/strong> of the 1951 Refugee Convention<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/Documents\/Issues\/Migration\/GlobalCompactMigration\/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a>The principle of non-refoulement under international human &#8230;The principle of non-refoulement under international human rights law. Under international human rights law, the principle of non-<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSDnXge_KH9ai3qRvntNbSVgz2F-m9M-zF8vWEFtwjk65MYwNPw-Z4s4gV09uCcQIBXGHsxRg\" alt=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com\/faviconV2?url=https:\/\/www.ohchr.org&amp;client=AIM&amp;size=24&amp;type=FAVICON&amp;fallback_opts=TYPE,SIZE,URL\" alt=\"\">ohchr<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.refworld.org\/policy\/legalguidance\/unhcr\/1997\/en\/36258\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a>UNHCR Note on the Principle of Non-Refoulement | RefworldThe principle of non-refoulement has some exceptions, including: * **Threat to the national security of the host country** * **Pro&#8230;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/faviconV2?url=https:\/\/www.refworld.org&amp;client=AIM&amp;size=24&amp;type=FAVICON&amp;fallback_opts=TYPE,SIZE,URL\" alt=\"\">Refworld<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gist of the Principle of Non-Refoulement Understanding Non-Refoulement: A Core Pillar of Human Rights No individual should ever be forced back into harm&#8217;s way. Under international human rights law, the principle of non-refoulement guarantees that no person\u2014regardless of their migration or citizenship status\u2014can be returned or transferred to a country where they face a genuine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,7,30,6,133,2,127,130,11,10,16,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-racism","category-articles","category-health","category-history","category-human-rights-constitution-federal-democracy-social-nets-minority-rights","category-international-news","category-islam-hope-allah-swt","category-motivation","category-myanmar-muslims-history","category-news","category-opinion","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7069"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7073,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7069\/revisions\/7073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}