Advisory Opinion on the Extraterritorial Application of Non-Refoulement Obligations under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol* Introduction 1. In this advisory opinion, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) addresses the question of the extraterritorial application of the principle of non-refoulement under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees 1 and its 1967 Protocol. 2 2. Part I of the opinion provides an overview of States’ non-refoulement obligations with regard to refugees and asylum-seekers under international refugee and human rights law. Part II focuses more specifically on the extraterritorial application of these obligations and sets out UNHCR’s position with regard to the territorial scope of States’ non-refoulement obligations under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol. 3. UNHCR has been charged by the United Nations General Assembly with the responsibility of providing international protection to refugees and other persons within its mandate and of seeking permanent solutions to the problem of refugees by assisting governments and private organizations. 3 As set forth in its Statute, UNHCR fulfils its international protection mandate by, inter alia, “[p]romoting the conclusion and ratification of international conventions for the protection of refugees, supervising their application and proposing amendments thereto.” 4 UNHCR’s supervisory responsibility under its Statute is mirrored in Article 35 of the 1951 Convention and Article II of the 1967 Protocol. 4. The views of UNHCR are informed by over 50 years of experience supervising international refugee instruments. UNHCR is represented in 116 countries. It provides guidance in connection with the establishment and implementation of national procedures for refugee status determinations and also conducts such determinations under its own mandate. UNHCR’s interpretation of the provisions of the 1951 * This Opinion was prepared in response to a request for UNHCR’s position on the extraterritorial application of the non-refoulement obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The Office’s views as set out in the Advisory Opinion are offered in a broad perspective, given the relevance of the legal questions involved to a variety of situations outside a State’s national territory. 1 The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, 189 U.N.T.S. 137, entered into force 22 April 1954 [hereinafter “1951 Convention”]. 2 The 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, 606 U.N.T.S. 267, entered into force 4 October 1967 [hereinafter “1967 Protocol”]. 3 See: Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, G.A. Res. 428(V), Annex, U.N. Doc. A/1775, para. 1 (1950). 4 Id., para. 8(a).

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