Extradition and Asylum operate as legal counterparts, balancing a state's interest in prosecuting fugitives with the international protection of human rights.
1. State Jurisdiction Principles
A state's capacity to prescribe, enforce, and adjudicate laws is governed by five jurisdictional principles:
- Territorial Principle: Jurisdiction over all offenses committed within the state's borders (includes subjective and objective territoriality).
- Nationality Principle: Jurisdiction over offenses committed by the state's citizens anywhere in the world.
- Protective Principle: Jurisdiction over actions committed abroad that threaten the state's national security, currency, or vital interests.
- Universal Jurisdiction: Jurisdiction over international crimes so heinous (piracy, genocide, torture) that any state may prosecute the offender, regardless of nationality or location.
2. Extradition
The formal delivery of an accused or convicted individual by one state to another where they are wanted for trial or punishment. Essential rules include:
- No Treaty, No Extradition: Extradition is generally not a customary duty; it requires a valid bilateral treaty.
- Double Criminality: The offense must be a crime under the laws of both the requesting and the requested state.
- Rule of Speciality: The extradited individual can only be tried for the specific offense for which they were extradited.
- Political Offense Exception: States refuse to extradite individuals accused of purely political crimes.
3. Asylum
The protection granted by a state to a foreign national fleeing persecution.
Territorial Asylum: Granted within the state's physical territory. An absolute right of a sovereign state (*non-refoulement* mandates that refugees cannot be returned to a country where they face persecution).
Extra-Territorial / Diplomatic Asylum: Granted in embassies, legations, or warships abroad. Generally not recognized in customary international law unless protected by treaty, as it violates the territorial sovereignty of the host state.