The Safe Third Country Practice in the European Union: A Misguided Approach to Asylum Law and a Violation of International Human Rights Standards
![handle is hein.journals/colhr33 and id is 485 raw text is: THE SAFE THIRD COUNTRY PRACTICE IN
THE EUROPEAN UNION:
A MISGUIDED APPROACH TO ASYLUM LAW
AND A VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL
HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS
by Gretchen Borchelt*
The world just celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the 1951
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees' (Refugee Convention).
With the celebration came concern and debate regarding the
continued relevance of the document,' for although the right to seek
and enjoy asylum is a well-established principle of international
* B.A. (Hon.), University of Virginia (1996); J.D., Columbia University
School of Law (expected 2002); Editor-in-Chief, Columbia Human Rights Law
Review (2001-02). Special thanks to Nuala Mole of the AIRE Centre and
Professor Gerald Neuman for advice in the initial exploration of this Note topic,
and to Adam Greenhalgh for comments on earlier drafts.
1. 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, adopted July 28,
1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137 [hereinafter Refugee Convention]. The Refugee Con-
vention was updated by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, approved
Nov. 18, 1966, 19 U.S.T. 6223 (entered into force Oct. 4, 1967) [hereinafter 1967
Protocol], because the definition of refugee in the Refugee Convention contains
a date limitation which benefited only persons who became refugees as a result of
events occurring prior to January 1, 1951. Office of the High Comm'r for Human
Rights, Fact Sheet No. 20, Human Rights and Refugees, http://www.unhchr.chl
htmlmenu6/21fs20.htm (last visited Mar. 25, 2002) [hereinafter UNHCHR Fact
Sheet].
2. See Marilyn Achiron, A 'Timeless' Treaty Under Attack, Refugees
(United Nations High Comm'r for Refugees, Geneva, Switzerland), June 1, 2001,
at 4, 6-7, 20-23 (recounting recent criticism and reconsideration of the Refugee
Convention).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/colhr33&div=15&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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