Human Rights — Article Fourteen

Public Domain

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

This article says that if you are being persecuted in your own country, then you have the right to seek asylum in other countries. While this stops short of preventing abuses within a country, it at least provides the possibility of escaping and seeking sanctuary elsewhere.

Part 2 of the article makes it clear that it doesn’t apply to genuine criminals.

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