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Concept
Right of return
Summary
The right of return is a principle in international law which guarantees everyone's right of voluntary return to, or re-entry to, their country of origin or of citizenship. The right of return is part of the broader human rights concept freedom of movement and is also related to the legal concept of nationality. While many states afford their citizens the right of abode, the right of return is not restricted to citizenship or nationality in the formal sense. It allows stateless persons and for those born outside their country to return for the first time, so long as they have maintained a "genuine and effective link".
The right is formulated in several modern treaties and conventions, most notably in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 1948 Fourth Geneva Convention. Legal scholars have argued that one or more of these international human rights instruments have attained the status of customary international law and that the right of return is therefore binding on non-signatories to these conventions.
The right of return is often invoked by representatives of refugee groups to assert that they have a right to return to the country from which they were displaced.
The right to leave any country and to return to one's own country are regarded as human rights and founded on natural law.
While the right of return wasn't explicitly recognized in antiquity, exile, being explicitly refused permission to return home, was a common punishment for severe crimes. The topic was discussed extensively by antique writers. For example, Teles of Megara in his diatribe On Exile wrote "But exiles are not allowed to return home, and this is a severe restriction of their freedom."
During antiquity, groups of people were frequently deported or uprooted from their cities and homeland, often as part of conquest or as a punishment for rebellion. In some cases they were allowed (or encouraged) to return, typically when the balance of military and political forces which caused their exile had changed.
Official source
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