1. "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy asylum in other countries from persecution."

2. "This right shall not, however, be invoked in the case of persecution for non-political crimes or for acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations."

Explanation of Article 14

Asylum is the protection of people who have had to leave their own country because they are persecuted. However, the Universal Declaration does not grant a legal right to asylum, i.e. it does not grant a right to receive asylum, but only the right to seek and enjoy asylum if it is granted by a state. When drafting the declaration, states were not prepared to give up their sovereignty in this area. The Geneva Refugee Convention, signed in 1951, prohibits states from sending refugees back to the persecuting state.