U.S. asylum policy and the New World Order.

Abstract

US policy on refugees was developed as an ad hoc response to the problem of displaced persons in Europe following the Second World War and quickly became a foreign policy tactic to be manipulated in the context of the Cold War political struggle. It was not until 1980 that the US formally adopted an asylee policy in legislative forum. That policy too was affected by the Cold War. The dismantlement of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 however have radically changed the dynamics of refugee and asylee issues. Refugee and asylee pressures are increasingly being linked with the broader worldwide issues of population growth unbalanced economic development and migration pressures. New refugee and asylum policies are required in the new world order which are not predicated upon the need to respond to communism. These policies must be reserved for truly persecuted individuals. The author discusses the creation of an asylum policy mass asylum and pending policy reforms. The refugee system provides a means of access for many people looking to escape the poverty unemployment and destitution of their homeland. Asylum policy is the most vulnerable element of refugee policy for exploitation. To alleviate the economic forces which lie at the core of asylum abuse will require more fundamental policies than the procedural changes currently under consideration by Congress or those proposed by President Clinton. Among them must be policies which promote family planning and provide the means for its practice; expand commitments to economic development assistance; and link trade access to the US marketplace and the receipt of foreign aid to the strict adherence of internationally specified human rights practices.