INS APPROVES FIRST ASYLUM CASE BASED ON UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE

Four years after the United Nations passed the convention against torture, the INS has approved an asylum case based on the treaty. Under the torture convention, signatory countries are prohibited from sending people back to their home countries if their are substantial grounds to believe that people will be tortured.

Immigrant advocacy organizations have attempted to use the convention in their arguments for quite some time and some immigration judges have agreed, but the INS has always rejected the treaty.

The case approved by the INS involves a 28-year-old ethnically Kurdish Iraqi army deserter. The INS reports that there are about 80 other pending cases in which illegal immigrants are trying to avoid deportation by claiming protection under the torture convention.

Congress is currently considering legislation that would declare the torture convention "the policy of the United States." Under the legislation, the INS would be required to write regulations implementing the torture treaty and broadening the scope of cases where asylum is possible. However, the Senate version of the bill contains an anti-abortion provision which is likely to draw a veto from President Clinton.

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