Definition of Political Asylum
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Juan Navarro García, in Apr. 2016
The figure of political asylum is the one established by the states to protect those people who in their country of origin suffer some type of persecution for reason of your ideas, religion or ethnicity. It is therefore a right that people in this situation enjoy in order not to be extradited to their territories of origin, where their lives would run danger.
For the granting of political asylum, the applicant must demonstrate reliably that he has been the object of said persecution, by margin to meet a wide list of conditions.
Political asylum can be granted within the territory state or diplomatic headquarters, such as an embassy, regardless of which country the embassy is located in. In the first case it is called territorial asylum, while in the second it is called diplomatic asylum.
Differences between humanitarian asylum and political asylum
When an individual requests political asylum, he must prove not only that he suffers persecution, but also that it is due to their active membership in some type of organization of a political, religious, social, racial or national.
In the case of humanitarian asylum, the circumstances are different, since those who intend to benefit from this figure do not have to have actively participated in any movement vindictive. Normally, humanitarian asylum is granted in those cases in which the socio-political circumstances of a territory oblige part of its population to emigrate to avoid death, without the government of the country is able to offer them the necessary protection.
Abandoned by their government and at serious risk by circumstances, the refugees are forced to move to other territories
Although the conditions, in this case, are not so demanding, the recipient countries, in general, are only willing to admit a certain quota.
Therefore, to obtain refugee status and obtain humanitarian asylum, a series of general circumstances in the country of origin that, objectively, pose a risk to life for the population.
This does not happen in the cases of those who request political asylum, since it is not necessary for the country to suffer a convulsive situation for a particular individual to be threatened. In this case, it is his status as an activist in any organization with little sympathy from the government that creates a situation of risk to his life.
Photos: iStock - Joel Carillet / alexandrumagurean
Issues in Political Asylum