II. DIPLOMATIC ASSURANCES AND THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-REFOULEMENT A. Protection against refoulement under international refugee law 7. International refugee law specifically provides for the protection of refugees against removal to a country where they would be at risk of persecution. This is known as the principle of non-refoulement. Often referred to as the cornerstone of international refugee protection, it is enshrined in Article 33 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (hereafter: “1951 Convention”). 8 Article 33(1) provides: “No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his [or her] life or freedom would the threatened on account of his [or her] race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” 8. The principle of non-refoulement applies to any person who is a refugee under the terms of the 1951 Convention, that is, anyone who meets the inclusion criteria of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention 9 and does not come within the scope of one of its exclusion provisions. 10 It applies not only in respect of return to the country of origin but also with regard to forcible removal to any other country where a person has reason to fear persecution related to one or more of the grounds set out in the 1951 Convention, or from where he or she risks being sent to his or her country of origin. 11 9. Given the declaratory nature of refugee status, the principle of non-refoulement equally applies to those who meet the criteria of Article 1 of the 1951 Convention but have not had their status formally recognized. Asylum-seekers are also protected against refoulement. As such persons may be refugees, it is an established principle of 8 For a detailed analysis see E. Lauterpacht and D. Bethlehem, “The scope and content of the principle of non-refoulement: Opinion”, in E. Feller, V. Türk and F. Nicholson (eds.), Refugee Protection in International Law: UNHCR’s Global Consultations on International Protection, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2003). Regional refugee instruments also contain nonrefoulement provisions, notably Article II(3) of the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and Section III(5) of the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees. 9 Under this provision, which is also incorporated into Article 1 of the 1967 Protocol, the term “refugee” shall apply to any person who “owing to a 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 [or her] nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to avail him [or her]self of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his [or her] habitual residence is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it”. 10 These are: the first paragraph of Article 1D (which applies to persons who are receiving protection or assistance from a UN agency other than UNHCR), Article 1E (which applies to those recognized by the authorities of another country in which they have taken residence as having the rights and obligations attached to the possession of its nationality), and Article 1F (which applies to those for whom there are serious reasons for considering that they have committed certain serious crimes or acts). 11 See UNHCR, Note on Non-Refoulement (EC/SCP/2), 1977, at paragraph 4. See also Paul Weis, The Refugee Convention, 1951, at p. 341, quoted in E. Lauterpacht and D. Bethlehem, above footnote 8, at paragraph 124. 4