SHOULD I ASK FOR ASYLUM OR REFUGE?

The Law regulating the Right of Asylum and Subsidiary Protection, configures asylum, recognized in article 13.4 of the Spanish Constitution, as the protection granted by Spain to non-EU nationals or stateless persons to whom the status of Refugee in accordance is recognized with this Law, with the Geneva Convention of 1951 and the New York Protocol of 1967.

Asylum

The charity establishment where people in need are collected or where they are given assistance, shelter, protection or favor is known as asylum. In general, this protection arises as a consequence of the reasons that occur to them. Two types of asylum can be mentioned, the political and the humanitarian.

As regards humanitarian asylum, it refers to accepting different immigrants who for some reason were forced to leave their country of origin. Whatever the reason, be it civil wars, racial or religious causes, among others. Likewise, in regards of political asylum, it refers to an international human rights law. This can be enjoyed by anyone suffering of political persecution.

It should be noted that it is not isolated until the insulating State offers its protection. Finally, as granting asylum is discretionary, states do not have to explain the reasons for offering or denying it.

The institution or brotherhood dedicated to helping the poor and providing shelter is known as refuge. This concept has its etymology in the Latin refugĭum. It can be a space or construction that allows shelter (a safe space).

So, a shelter is a space that uses protection space against possible dangers. Part of the idea of sheltering an individual is a space where any being can protect himself from adverse conditions or when he needs to take shelter from something or someone. As for his political character, there is the status of ‘refugee’ which refers to the person seeking shelter in a country that is not his own. This is because it seeks the protection of another country to be relocated to a safer place.

Generally, the countries that offer refuge are the border countries that offer them to supply what they need. The states of refuge recognize this quality and, consequently, if they decide not to do the recognition they must explain the reasons that led them to their refusal. For all of the above, the refuge is a purely humanitarian institution.

Persons who the authorities of the country where they have established their residence have recognized the rights and obligations inherent or equivalent to their nationals or who fall within the scope of Article 1.D or in some of the cases provided for in articles 1.F and 33.2 of the aforementioned will be excluded from the refuge program.

Geneva Convention:

The aforementioned article 1.F states that the provisions of the Convention shall not apply to any person for whom there are good grounds to consider:

- That he has committed a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity, of those defined in international instruments developed to adopt provisions regarding such crimes.

- That he has committed a serious common crime, outside the country of refuge, before being admitted as a refugee.

- That he has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

- These motives will also apply to people who participate or incite the execution of these crimes.

- For its part, Article 33.2 establishes that the refugee who is considered, for founded reasons, as a danger to the security of the country where he is located or who may not invoke the benefits of this provision (prohibition of expulsion and return). Having been the subject of a final conviction for a particularly serious crime, it constitutes a threat to the community of that country.

The protection granted with international protection (a term that encompasses both the right of asylum and subsidiary protection) consists in the non-return or expulsion of persons who have been recognized, as well as in the adoption of the measures contemplated in the Spanish regulations, that of the European Union, and in the international Conventions ratified by Spain while the circumstances remain under which they are granted the right of asylum or subsidiary protection.