Victims of War must be loyal to deserve protection: International law and national legislation on enemy aliens 1907-1918

In international law the internment of civilians has only been regulated in writing in the context of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949. Nevertheless this did not mean that civilians were not protected by at least some rules of customary international law before that date and especially in World War I. Furthermore specialists of international law expected states – at least those considered to be part of the community of civilized nations – to continue to treat all men equal before the law even in wartime. As research already conducted (Bird, Panayi, Fischer) has shown, this was not the case during World War I. Based on these findings the presentation proposed here wants to look into the development of international law and into some national preparations for treating so called “enemy aliens” in the period before 1914 (Austria-Hungary, Australia, United Kingdom), in order to see to what extent principles of international law protecting civilians from the consequences of war can be detected in the pre-war preparations. As far as can be judged so far the issue of loyalty was central in this context. Looking at the war itself, the presentation proposed here will try to look at how far the principles of international law alluded to above continued to influence the policies on “enemy aliens” in the countries mentioned and to see, how the International Committee of the Red Cross tried to use them to legitimize and expand its protective policies in regard to civilians interned in belligerent as well as neutral countries throughout the war.

Zur Geschichte der Anti-Aliens-Bewegung in England

N. W. Goldstein

Restrictions on Aliens in the United Kingdom, 1914-1919 : a Study of the Origins and Political Background of the Aliens Restrictions Acts of 1914 and 1919.

At first glance the Aliens Restriction Act of 1914, which was introduced and passed on the first day of World War One, seems a hasty and ill-prepared piece of legislation. Actually, when examined in the light of Arthur Marwick's thesis that war is a forcing house for pre-existent social and governmental ideas, it becomes clear that the act was not after all the product of hastily formed notions. In point of fact it followed the precedent of detailed draft clauses produced in 1911 by a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence established to consider the treatment of aliens in the event of war. Indeed the draft clauses and the restrictions embodied in the 1914 act were strikingly similar to restrictions on aliens legislated in 1793. Hostility to aliens had been growing from 1905 to 1914 and this hostility blossomed into xeno-phobia on the outbreak of war, a crucial precondition for the specifically anti-enemy fears of the time. In 1919 the Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Bill was introduced into parliament to extend temporarily the provisions of the 1914 act thus permitting the Home Secretary to plan permanent, detailed legislation. Two minority groups of MPs with extreme views on the treatment of aliens were prominent in the debates on this bill. The extreme Liberal group which advocated leniency in the treatment of aliens had little effect on the final form of the bill, but the extreme Conservative group, which demanded severe restrictions on aliens, succeeded in persuading the government to include detailed restrictions. Despite its allegedly temporary nature, the Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act of 1919 was renewed annually until 1971.

Illegal aliens : extent of problems experienced by returned Salvadorans not determinable : Briefing report to the Honorable Hamilton Fish, Jr., House of Representatives /

"B-226656."

Illegal/undocumented aliens /

"Date originated 11/06/74; date updated 11/06/81."

Immigration reform : verifying the status of aliens applying for federal benefits : report to congressional committees /

"B-229066"--P. [1]

Illegal aliens. : Hearings, Ninety-second Congress, first session.

"Serial no. 13."

Impact of commuter aliens along the Mexican and Canadian borders : hearings.

Hearings held in various cities Jan. 26-Mar. 8, 1968.

More needs to be done to reduce the number and adverse impact of illegal aliens in the United States, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice;

"B-125051."

Illegal aliens : analysis and background /

"92-113."

Estimates of illegal aliens from Mexico counted in the 1980 United States census /

"A paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 14-16, 1983."

1980 census, counting illegal aliens : hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Federal Services of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, Ninety-sixth Congress, second session, on S. 2366 ... March 26, 1980.

Mode of access: Internet.

Republican landmarks. The views and opinions of American statesmen on foreign immigration. Being a collection of statistics of population, pauperism, crime, etc. With an inquiry into the true character of the dUnited States government, and its policy on the subject of immigration, naturalization of aliens, etc.

Mode of access: Internet.