International agreements have been made by the US to enable border management with Canada and Mexico (see 8.3-External Borders). In December 2002 the US signed a safe third country agreement with Canada. The Agreement allocates responsibility for asylum claims between the two countries made at land border ports on the US/Canada border.

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International agreements have been made by the US to enable border management with Canada and Mexico (see 8.3-External Borders). In December 2002 the US signed a safe third country agreement with Canada. The Agreement allocates responsibility for asylum claims between the two countries made at land border ports on the US/Canada border (1). The basic premise of the Agreement is that the country of the applicant’s last presence should assume responsibility for asylum claims. The Agreement makes exceptions where the person arriving in the State has a family member there who has refugee status or other lawful status or has a family member over the age of 18 in the receiving state who is not ineligible to claim asylum. Such persons may remain in the receiving state.

The US has signed numerous international agreements on issues such as visas and refugees. For example an agreement concerning the reciprocal waiver of visas for non-immigrants was signed by the US with Greece in 2000. In 1994 they signed a Memorandum of understanding for the establishment within the territory of Dominica of facilities to provide temporary protection under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for nationals of Haiti fleeing their country. This was to establish a processing facility to determine the protection status of boat people from Haiti.

Most recently in 2002 the US signed the multilateral Inter-American Convention against Terrorism. The objectives of the Convention are to improve regional co-operation on terrorism and prevent, punish, and eliminate terrorism. Contracting states parties of the Organisation of American States agree to adopt the necessary measures to achieve the Conventions objectives and to strengthen cooperation among them. It requires States to institute a legal and regulatory regime to prevent, combat, and eradicate the financing of terrorism and for effective international cooperation, and allows for expeditious mutual legal assistance with respect to the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of such offences.

Analysis provided by: Anisa Niaz LLM (Public Law), United Kingdom.

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