NationStates Jolt Archive

As far as I know, the right to enter and reside in one's own country is not secured by US law. Foreigners may be imprisoned and deported anywhere, even if they may be subjected to torture. Is this true? How about the situation in other countries? Can you do such things legally as "importing" torture?

Particularly interesting is the legal status of US nationals who are foreign fighters in some army with hostilities towards the USA, particularly Taliban.

The Finnish constitution (L2 3 §) guarantees this right: "Finnish citizens shall not be prevented from entering Finland or deported or extradited or transferred from Finland to another country against their will. / The right of foreigners to enter Finland and to remain in the country is regulated by an Act. A foreigner shall not be deported, extradited or returned to another country, if in consequence he or she is in danger of a death sentence, torture or other treatment violating human dignity."

Well, the Swedish Constitution states:

"Art. 4. There shall be no capital punishment.

Art. 5. Every citizen shall be protected against corporal punishment. He shall likewise be protected against any torture or medical influence aimed at extorting or suppressing statements.

Art. 7. No citizen may be deported from or refused entry into the Realm.

No citizen who is domiciled in the Realm or who has previously been domiciled in the Realm may be deprived of his citizenship unless he becomes at the same time a citizen of another state, either with his own express consent or because he has taken up employment in the public service. The foregoing notwithstanding, it may however be laid down that children under the age of eighteen shall have the same nationality as their parents or as one parent. It may further be laid down that, in pursuance of an agreement with another state, a person who has been a citizen also of the other state from birth, and who has his permanent domicile there, shall forfeit his Swedish nationality at or after the age of eighteen.

Art. 8. Every citizen shall be protected in his relations with the public institutions against deprivation of personal liberty. He shall also in other respects be guaranteed freedom of movement within the Realm and freedom to depart the Realm.

And then it further says:

"Art. 22. A foreign national within the Realm is equated with a Swedish citizen in respect of

1. protection against coercion to participate in a meeting for the formation of opinion or a demonstration or other manifestation of opinion, or to belong to a religious community or other association (Article 2, sentence two);

2. protection of personal integrity in connection with automatic data processing (Article 3, paragraph two);

3. protection against capital punishment, corporal punishment and torture, and against medical influence aimed at extorting or suppressing statements (Articles 4 and 5);

4. the right to have a deprivation of liberty on account of a criminal act or on suspicion of having committed such an act examined before a court of law (Article 9, paragraphs one and three);

5. protection against retroactive penal sanctions and other retroactive legal effects of criminal acts, and against retroactive taxes or charges due the State (Article 10);

6. protection against the establishment of a court of law for a particular case (Article 11, paragraph one);

7. protection against unfavourable treatment on grounds of race, colour or ethnic origin, or on grounds of gender (Articles 15 and 16);

8. the right to industrial action (Article 17);

9. protection against expropriation or other such disposition and against restriction of the use of land or buildings (Article 18);

10. the right to an education (Article 21).

Unless it follows otherwise from special provisions of law, a foreign national within the Realm is equated with a Swedish citizen also in respect of

1. freedom of expression, freedom of information, freedom of assembly, freedom to demonstrate, freedom of association and freedom of worship (Article 1);

2. protection against coercion to divulge an opinion (Article 2, sentence one);

3. protection against physical violations also in cases other than cases under Articles 4 and 5, against body searches, house searches and other such invasions of privacy, and against violations of confidential communications (Article 6);

4. protection against deprivation of liberty (Article 8, sentence one);

5. the right to have a deprivation of liberty other than a deprivation of liberty on account of a criminal act or on suspicion of having committed such an act examined before a court of law (Article 9, paragraphs two and three);

6. public court proceedings (Article 11, paragraph two);

7. protection against interventions on grounds of opinion (Article 12, paragraph two, sentence three);

8. authors’, artists’ and photographers’ rights to their works (Article 19);

9. the right to trade or practise a profession (Article 20).

The provisions of Article 12, paragraph three; paragraph four, sentence one; and paragraph five shall apply with respect to the special provisions of law referred to in paragraph two.

Art. 23. No act of law or other provision may be adopted which contravenes Sweden’s undertakings under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms."

The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Convention_on_Human_Rights)

According to the Human Rights Declaration, no country is allowed to deport one of its citizens.
What a country does with foreigners, immigrants etc. is not regulated internationally, as far as I know. :(

In Austria, there used to be a law allowing you to stay if you're married to a citizen or if you've been a resident for a certain amount of years. But I don't know if that's still true. :confused:

If an immigrant came here illegally, they should be deported asap because they commited a crime just by crossing the border. Why can't people just get their papers? It makes the process easier and we won't get criminals or dregs of society.

If an immigrant came here illegally, they should be deported asap because they commited a crime just by crossing the border. Why can't people just get their papers? It makes the process easier and we won't get criminals or dregs of society.
It’s the dregs that can’t get the papers.

I don't know if extraordinary rendition has been used on/against American citizens, but I know that our government is holding criminals without giving them recourse to their legal rights.

Funny thing that a government devoted to freedom would happily violate its own precepts!