Freedom of Movement in the case of refugees in Sudan
BY ABDULAZIZ YASIN
The Government required refugees to reside in camps, granting permission to leave only for medical care, education, or employment. The Asylum Act stated that a refugee “shall not depart from any place of residence” the Government specified. Violations carried sentences of up to one year. About 90,000 refugees lived in camps and 65,000 in urban areas. About 80 percent of new arrivals went to the capital. UNHCR issued refugees international travel documents. Sudan maintained a reservation to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees’ provision on freedom of movement. What is freedom of movement?
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) all people are entitled to the recognition of inherent dignity and certain inalienable rights, which are the “foundations of freedom and justice in the world.” Freedom of movement is part of the “liberty of man” (Jagerskiold) thus making it one of the most basic human rights. Articles 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulate: Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return to his country. The right to free movement, or the denial of it, within national and international borders can have profound effects upon other basic human rights also outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other treaties. Without the right to leave ones home, an individual may be politically repressed, prevented from observing his/her chosen religion, prevented from enjoying the basic right to marriage or family life, or blocked from a job or an education that ultimately could enhance his/her quality of life. Thus, while free movement may seem on the surface to be a fairly minor and obvious human right, it actually is one of the most basic rights that in many nations around the world, when violated, causes numerous problems and cases of suffering. Who does the freedom of movement affect?
This inalienable right to liberty extends to all citizens of the world. While it may seem that this right is meant to apply mainly to immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, it also has major ramifications on internally displaced persons and additionally economic migrants or even students. Internally displaced persons, or those that have left their home in fear of persecution but have not crossed any international borders, face the same challenges as refugees except within their country of origin or nationality. This group of people poses a particularly interesting problem because they are subject to internal exile, another form of persecution and a violation of the human right to liberty. In this given situation those who have fled their homes are forced to remain in a specified area of the country and any movement outside this zone is forbidden. Refugees have the potential to face a more difficult situation as far as their rights to free movement are concerned. Given that they have fled their old country of origin or nationality due to a well founded fear of persecution on one of five grounds: race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, they do not have the ability to return to their old country. However, within their new life they are completely in the hands of a new government, which has not guaranteed citizenship to the refugees, as is the case with asylum seekers. Thus, due to the fact that the government has to find a place for these people to make their new lives, which can include refugee camps, then freedom of movement and subsequently the right to make a new and better life has the potential to be infringed upon. · Articles 12 – 30 of the Refugee Convention set out the rights which individuals are entitled to once they have been recognised as Convention refugees: · All refugees must be granted identity papers and travel documents that allow them to travel outside the country · Refugees must receive the same treatment as nationals of the receiving country with regard to the following rights: – Free exercise of religion and religious education
– Free access to the courts, including legal assistance
– Access to elementary education
– Access to public relief and assistance
– Protection provided by social security
– Protection of intellectual property, such as inventions and trade names
– Protection of literary, artistic and scientific work
– Equal treatment by taxing authorities · Refugees must receive the most favourable treatment provided to nationals of a foreign country with regard to the following rights: – The right to belong to trade unions
– The right to belong to other non-political nonprofit organizations
– The right to engage in wage-earning employment · Refugees must receive the most favourable treatment possible, which must be at least as favourable to that accorded aliens generally in the same circumstances, with regard to the following rights: – The right to own property
– The right to practice a profession
– The right to self-employment
– Access to housing
– Access to higher education · Refugees must receive the same treatment as that accorded to aliens generally with regard to the following rights: – The right to choose their place of residence
– The right to move freely within the country
– Free exercise of religion and religious education
– Free access to the courts, including legal assistance
– Access to elementary education
– Access to public relief and assistance
– Protection provided by social security
– Protection of intellectual property, such as inventions and trade names
– Protection of literary, artistic and scientific work
– Equal treatment by taxing authorities
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