Can a person who feels themselves victimised by the government of the country they were born in seek political asylum in another nation? They might be people like Timothy McVeigh (pre-Oklahoma bombing) who feel that their government has broken their “social contract” with them. They may be victims of racism, unemployment, the justice system or the medical profession. They may be Goths who are considered “culturally different” and whose lives are damaged because of this.
Well nothing is going to prevent you from trying. Political asylum is entirely dependent on if the host nation believes you that you are being oppressed.
You also have to get to the host nation somehow.
It would be my guess that most other democracies would not think you are being oppressed, and send you on your way. A country like China or Cuba might like the idea as a propaganda tool.
I’m glad you brought up “most other democracies”. I wondered if political asylum has necessarily to be sought with a “host” country which has a different political system to the one the “dissident” wishes to leave. If it does then I’d prefer to think in slightly different terms.
This isn’t exactly the same thing, but many other democracies will refuse to extradite prisoners to the United States if they are facing the death penalty. (See, for example, the Ira Einhorn case–there were actually two separate issues there; first the French wouldn’t extradite him because he’d been tried in absentia; when the Pennsylvania authorities agreed that he would have another trial, there was still a problem with Einhorn potentially facing the death penalty.)
So, I suspect that one democracy granting asylum to a citizen of another would not be completely out of the question, if the democracy being asked to grant refuge could in fact be persuaded that the refugee had a well-founded fear of persecution back home. Generally speaking, citizens of civilized countries don’t have well-founded fears of persecution by their governments, but there’s nothing magic about being a democracy that would automatically invalidate even the possibility of being granted asylum.
As far as U.S. law goes on asylum, 8 U.S.C. 1158 would seem to grant asylum to persons who are legally considered to be “refugees”, which are defined in 8 U.S.C. 1101 to be:
There seems to be no blanket exemption for democracies here. If the people of Canada all lost their minds and democratically voted into office a government which started throwing all the Gypsies or Unitarians or Progressive Conservatives in prison (or passed a law mandating abortions for some or all women), we’d be obliged to consider members of those groups refugees, and grant them asylum.
Draft dodgers who came to Canada could not be extradited for the simple reason that draft dodging isn’t a crime in Canada, there being no draft. No country will extradite someone for something that isn’t a crime in that country.
Another large group of people who fled the USA as political refugees; Escaped slaves.
It’s uncommon but it does happen. There’s also, obviously, a difference between seeking asylum and being granted asylum as there is between different forms of ‘democracy’.
Examples off the top of my head …IRA members seeking asylum in the US in, I think, the early 1980’s, London awash with anti-Aparthied white South Africans (well, they had a vote) for many years, I think Spain tried to extradite several Basques some years ago from France. In your neck of the woods…Sri Lankan Tamils, Indonesian Islanders…even some Balkan countries, although the details of when democracy did and didn’t kick in are pretty hazy for me.
Also, democracy in other parts of Africe has been subject to a liberal (small ‘L’) interpretation and many from there have washed up around Europe.
Course, it also helps if the two countries in question have an Extradition Treaty.
The idea of a Social Contract has no legal reality does it? People go through life pre-supposing that if they don’t break the law, if they respect the rights of others and act in a civilised manner then their government owes them certain things. I don’t think anyone could win a court case against a government which, in their opinion, failed to deliver.
The answers from the posters in this thread are interesting and helpful. Thank you very much.
Actually, there seems to be a bit of a saga in progress right now that touches on this question. I’ve included links to the whole series, since the whole sequence of events seemed fairly bizarre to me:
(In Canada, specifically. He’s from California. Okay, so the USA technically isn’t a democracy; I don’t think that quibble is particularly relevant to the spirit of the OP.)
Finally, a much broader and deeper collection of info on the fellow at the center of this ongoing drama.
In the interest of fairness and balance, perhaps I should have looked up the Church of Scientolgy’s take on this. However, there are only so many minutes in a day …
IANAL, or a diplomat for that matter, so I don’t know how much merit this case has on either side. However, it may be worth noting that the Canadians haven’t deported him.
Wow. I said some stuff about Benny Hinn on the Straight Dope last week. I had never heard of religious interference but then ignorance may be no defence.
Cuba… now there’s a country. It’s an Anne Rice fantasy. Just one big film set. I could live there.
I apologise for my flippancy. This is one of the most worthwhile threads I have initiated, in my opinion. It was semi-serious in intent. I come from a country which has the highest suicide rate in the world. While I am not a speaker for the dead I’m fairly sure they share my opinion that this country doesn’t deserve the reputation it has of being full of good, down-to-earth, commonsensical, salt of the earth people. It has rathher a lot of sinister, cruel and hive-minded individuals in my opinion. Attempts to right personal injustices more often than not result in being told by authorities that “everybody’s the same”. It’s almost like an unconscious form of eugenics. So there, I’ve said my piece. Anything more is not right for a public forum. The Scientology story has scared me off big time. I once said something nice about Scientology on these boards. I’m thinking now that it was a little misguided of me.
G. Nome, are you kidding about living in Cuba? Hope so. If not…well, I assume you’ve checked this out thoroughly, maybe even visited there. Or that you will before you apply for asylum.
Would it be inappropriate to ask why you want to leave the US? Probably. Okay, can I ask what amenities and so forth you’re hoping your new country will have? Then we might be able to pinpoint a few likely candidates.
I forget the details, but recently there was a marijuana cultivation case which included this woman. Apparently she is an artist and she drew a cover for a book on medical marijuana, and also, unfortunately for her, helped some others cultivate. She fled to Canada, where the penalties are far lower, and was facing possible extradition to the U.S. I don’t know how it turned out.
Wasn’t there a case in the 80s of some nuns being arrested for harboring refugees from Central American nations? And they weren’t allowed asylum because the Reagan administration was supportive of the regime of that country, or something like that? Oh…I’ll have to look up the details again!
Lemme get back to yas!