2. Such denunciation shall take effect for the State Party concerned one ye from the date on which it is received by the Secretary-General of the United N tions. ARTICLE X NOTIFICATIONS BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform the States referred to an article V above of the date of entry into force, accessions, reservations and withdrawals of reservations to and denunciations of the present Protocol, and of declarations and notifications relating hereto. ARTICLE XI DEPOSIT IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE SECRETARIAT OF THE UNITED NATIONS A copy of the present Protocol, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, signed by the President of the General Assembly and by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, shall be deposited in the archives of the Secretariat of the United Nations. The Secretary-General will transmit certified copies thereof to all States Members of the United Ñations and to the other States referred to in article V above. RESERVATION AS STATED IN PROCLAMATION WHEREAS the Senate of the United States of America by its resolution of October 4, 1968, two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein, did advise and consent to accession to the Protocol with the following reservations: "The United States of America construes Article 29 of the Convention as applying only to refugees who are resident in the United States and reserves the right to tax refugees who are not residents of the United States in accordance with its general rules relating to nonresident aliens. "The United States of America accepts the obligation of paragraph 1(b) of Article 24 of the Convention except insofar as that paragraph may conflict in certain instances with any provision of title II (old age, survivors' and disability insurance) or title XVIII (hospital and medical insurance for the aged) of the Social Security Act. As to any such provision, the United States will accord to refugees lawfully staying in its territory treatment no less favorable than is accorded aliens generally in the same circumstances." C. GENEVA CONVENTION RELATING TO THE STATUS OF REFUGEES 1 (Done at Geneva, July 28, 1951) THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES Preamble CONSIDERING that the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Decalration of Human Rights approved on 10 December 1948 by the General Assembly have affirmed the principle that human beings shall enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms without discrimination, CONSIDERING that the United Nations has, on various occasions, manifested its profound concern for refugees and endeavored to assure refugees the widest possible exercise of these fundamental rights and freedoms, CONSIDERING that it is desirable to revise and consolidate previous international agreements relating to the status of refugees and to extend the scope of and the protection accorded by such instruments by means of a new agreement, CONSIDERING that the grant of asylum may place unduly heavy burdens on cer tain countries, and that a satisfactory solution of a problem of which the United 1 19 UST 6260: TIAS 6577. The United States is not a party to this Convention. However, the U.S. is a party to the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (page 297 et seq.) which incorporates Articles 2 through 34 of this Convention. Nations has recognized the international scope and nature cannot therefore be chieved without international co-operation, EXPRESSING the wish that all States, recognizing the social and humanitarian ature of the problem of refugees, will do everything within their power to prevent is problem from becoming a cause of tension between States, NOTING that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is charged with le task of supervising international conventions providing for the protection of refgees, and recognizing that the effective co-ordination of measures taken to deal ith this problem will depend upon the co-operation of States with the High Commissioner. HAVE AGREED as follows: CHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS ARTICLE 1 Definition of the Term "Refugee" A. For the purposes of the present Convention, the term "refugee" shall apply to any person who: (1) Has been considered a refugee under the Arrangements of 12 May 1926 and 30 June 1928 or under the Conventions of 28 October 1933 and 10 February 1938, the Protocol of 14 September 1939 or the Constitution of the International Refugee Organization; Decisions of non-eligibility taken by the International Refugee Organization during the period of its activities shall not prevent the status of refugee being accorded to persons who fulfill the conditions of paragraph 2 of this section; (2) As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, in unwilling to return to it. In the case of a person who has more than one nationality, the term "the country of his nationality" shall mean each of the countries of which he is a national, and a person shall not be deemed to be lacking the protection of the country of his nationality if, without any valid reason based on well-founded fear, he has not availed himself of the protection of one of the countries of which he is a national. B. (1) For the purposes of this Convention, the words "events occurring before 1 January 1951" in article 1, section A, shall be understood to mean either (a) "events occurring in Europe before 1 January 1951"; or (b) "events occurring in Europe or elsewhere before 1 January 1951"; and each Contracting State shall make a declaration at the time of signature, ratification or accession, specifying which of these meanings it applies for the purpose of its obligations under this Convention. (2) Any Contracting State which has adopted alternative (a) may at any time extend its obligations by adopting alternative (b) by means of a notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. C. This Convention shall cease to apply to any person falling under the terms of section A if: (1) He has voluntarily re-availed himself of the protection of the country of his nationality; or (2) Having lost his nationality, he has voluntarily reacquired it; or (3) He has acquired a new nationality, and enjoys the protection of the country of his new nationality; or (4) He has voluntarily re-established himself in the country which he left or outside which he remained owing to fear of persecution; or (5) He can no longer, because the circumstances in connexion with which he has been recognized as a refugee have ceased to exist, continue to refuse to avail himself of the protection of the country of his nationality; Provided that this paragraph shall not apply to a refugee falling under secton A(1) of this article who is able to invoke compelling reasons arising out of previous persecution for refusing to avail himself of the protection of the country of nation ity; (6) Being a person who has no nationality he is, because the circumstances in c nexion with which he has been recognized as a refugee have ceased to exist, able return to the country of his former habitual residence; Provided that this paragraph shall not apply to a refugee falling under secti A(1) of this article who is able to invoke compelling reasons arising out of previo persecution for refusing to return to the country of his former habitual residenc D. This Convention shall not apply to persons who are at present receiving fro organs or agencies of the United Nations other than the United Nations High Con missioner for Refugees protection or assistance. When such protection or assistance has ceased for any reason, without the posi tion of such persons being definitively settled in accordance with the relevant reso lutions adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, these persons shal ipso facto be entitled to the benefits of this Convention. E. This Convention shall not apply to a person who is recognized by the compe tent authorities of the country in which he has taken residence as having the right and obligations which are attached to the possession of the nationality of that country. F. The provisions of this Convention shall not apply to any person with respect to whom there are serious reasons for considering that: (a) he has committed a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity, as defined in the international instruments drawn up to make provision in respect of such crimes; (b) he has committed a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge prior to his admission to that country as a refugee; (c) he has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. ARTICLE 2 General Obligations Every refugee has duties to the country in which he finds himself, which require in particular that he conform to its laws and regulations as well as to measures taken for the maintenance of public order. ARTICLE 3 Non-discrimination The Contracting States shall apply the provisions of this Convention to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin. ARTICLE 4 The Contracting States shall accord to refugees within their territories treatment at least as favourable as that accorded to their nationals with respect to freedom to practice their religion and freedom as regards the religious education of their children. ARTICLE 5 Rights Granted Apart From This Convention Nothing in this Convention shall be deemed to impair any rights and benefits granted by a Contracting State to refugees apart from this Convention. ARTICLE 6 The Term "in the Same Circumstances" For the purpose of this Convention, the term "in the same circumstances" implies that any requirements (including requirements as to length and conditions of sojourn or residence) which the particular individual would have to fulfill for the enjoyment of the right in question, if he were not a refugee, must be fulfilled by him, with the exception of requirements which by their nature a refugee is incapable of fulfilling. ARTICLE Exemption from Reciprocity 1. Except where this Convention contains more favourable provisions, a Contracting State shall accord to refugees the same treatment as is accorded to aliens generally. 2. After a period of three year's residence, all refugees shall enjoy exemption from legislative reciprocity in the territory of the Contracting States. 3. Each Contracting State shall continue to accord to refugees the rights and benefits to which they were already entitled, in the absence of reciprocity, at the date of entry into force of this Convention for that State. 4. The Contracting States shall consider favourably the possibility of according to refugees, in the absence of reciprocity, rights and benefits beyond those to which they are entitled according to paragraphs 2 and 3, and to extending exemption from reciprocity to refugees who do not fulfill the conditions provided for in paragraphs 2 and 3. 5. The provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 apply both to the rights and benefits referred to in articles 13, 18, 19, 21 and 22 of this Convention and to rights and benefits for which this Convention does not provide. ARTICLE 8 Exemption from Exceptional Measures With regard to exceptional measures which may be taken against the person, property or interests of nationals of a foreign State, the Contracting States shall not apply such measures to a refugee who is formally a national of the said State solely on account of such nationality. Contracting States which, under their legislation, are prevented from applying the general principle expressed in this article, shall, in appropriate cases, grant exemptions in favour of such refugees. ARTICLE 9 Provisional Measures Nothing in this Convention shall prevent a Contracting State, in time of war or other grave and exceptional circumstances, from taking provisionally measures which it considers to be essential to the national security in the case of a particular person, pending a determination by the Contracting State that that person is in fact a refugee and that the continuance of such measures is necessary in his case in the interests of national security. ARTICLE 10 1. Where a refugee has been forcibly displaced during the Second World War and removed to the territory of a Contracting State, and is resident there, the period of such enforced sojourn shall be considered to have been lawful residence within that territory. 2. Where a refugee has been forcibly displaced during the Second World War from the territory of a Contracting State and has, prior to the date of entry into force of this Convention, returned there for the purpose of taking up residence, the period of residence before and after such enforced displacement shall be regarded as one uninterrupted period for any purposes for which uninterrupted residence is required. ARTICLE 11 Refugee Seamen In the case of refugees regularly serving as crew members on board a ship flying the flag of a Contracting State, that State shall give sympathetic consideration to their establishment on its territory and the issue of travel documents to them or their temporary admission to its territory particularly with a view to facilitating their establishment in another country. CHAPTER II JURIDICAL STATUS ARTICLE 12 Personal Status 1. The personal status of a refugee shall be governed by the law of the country of his domicile or, if he has no domicile, by the law of the country of his residence. 2. Rights previously acquired by a refugee and dependent on personal status, more particularly rights attaching to marriage, shall be respected by a Contracting State, subject to compliance, if this be necessary, with the formalities required by the law of that State, provided that the right in question is one which would have been recognized by the law of that State had he not become a refugee. ARTICLE 13 Movable and Immovable Property The Contracting States shall accord to a refugee treatment as favourable as possible and, in any event, not less favourable than that accorded to aliens generally in the same circumstances, as regards the acquisition of movable and immovable property and other rights pertaining thereto, and to leases and other contracts relating to movable and immovable property. ARTICLE 14 Artistic Rights and Industrial Property In respect to the protection of industrial property, such as inventions, designs or models, trade marks, trade names, and of rights in literary, artistic and scientific works, a refugee shall be accorded in the country in which he has his habitual residence the same protection as is accorded to nationals of that country. In the territory of any other Contracting State, he shall be accorded the same protection as is accorded in that terriotry to nationals of the country in which he has his habitual residence. ARTICLE 15 As regards non-political and non-profitmaking associations and trade unions the Contracting States shall accord to refugees lawfully staying in their territory the most favourable treatment accorded to nationals of a foreign country, in the same circumstances. ARTICLE 16 Access to Courts 1. A refugee shall have free access to the courts of law on the territory of all Contracting States. 2. A refugee shall enjoy in the Contracting State in which he has his habitual residence the same treatment as a national in matters pertaining to access to the Courts, including legal assistance and exemption from cautio judicatun solvi. 3. A refugee shall be accorded in the matters referred to in paragraph 2 in countries other than that in which he has his habitual residence the treatment granted to a national of the country of his habitual residence. CHAPTER III GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT |