The right to asylum as an individual human right in international law. Special reference to European law

Refugee protection is to be seen as human rights protection. However, a theoretical framework placing refugee protection in the context of International Human Rights Law is still lacking. For these reasons, the hypothesis in this dissertation is the existence of a right of individuals to be granted asylum under International Human Rights and Refugee Law. The premise for this research is necessarily the assertion that individuals may be subjects of International Law, as right holders vis-à-vis States.; The research is divided into 5 chapters. The first one develops the theoretical framework under which the work is conducted. The following chapters examine the obligations of States to allow entry and/or to refrain from forcibly removing non nationals from their territory under the different relevant legal orders, as well as the scope of application of these obligations ratione personae , ratione materiae, and ratione locus.; The second chapter elaborates on the obligations of protection of States vis-à-vis refugees under International Refugee Law, including the historical development of asylum as an institution for refugee protection.; Chapter three elaborates extensively on the obligations of States to allow entry and/or to refrain from forcibly removing individuals who fall under the scope of International Human Rights Treaties of universal and regional scope (as developed by their international monitoring bodies and Courts).; Chapter four examines the obligations of States to allow entry and/or to refrain from forcibly removing individuals from their territory under International Customary Law. It not only looks at selected State practice world-wide, but it also elaborates on the special status of human rights as rules of Customary Law, as derived from the case-law of the International Court of Justice, as well as on the role of International Organisations, such as the United Nations, to develop such rules.; Chapter five examines the legal developments in the field of asylum in the European Union, and how this special ‘supra-national’ legal order relates to the rights of refugees under International Refugee and Human Rights Law.