Information and Documents
Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948
The 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention and Protocol of 1967
Asylum-seeker statistics
Information for Asylum-seekers and Refugees
Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948
The United Nations Organization (UNO) had underlined their "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women ... " in its Charter in year 1945.
With resolution 217 A (III) of December 10, 1948 the UNO stated, which the inalienable rights of each humans are.
The resolution is not an according to international law binding document. It formed however the basis for further human right declarations of other organizations as well as the basis for the International Covenants on Human Rights of December 1966, which entered into force 1976.
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNO 1948
- International Covenants on Human Rights from Dec. 16, 1966:
On Civil and Political Rights (CCPR)
On Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR)
- Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
- Status of Ratification of International Human Right Treaties (by UNHCHR, PDF-formatted)
Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951 and Protocol of 1967
The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees is the key legal document in defining who is a refugee, their rights and the legal obligations of states. The 1967 Protocol removed geographical and temporal restrictions from the Convention.
- Text of Geneva Refugee Convention
- Text of the Protocol
- Signatories (PDF-formatted)
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
- U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR)
Asylum-seeker statistics
- Applications for asylum in 2001 (UNHCR statistics, PDF-formatted, 382KB)
Information for Asylum-seekers and Refugees
- Deportation: What to do? (Text by Allerweltshaus Cologne)