The aut dedere aut judicare rule versus rights of refugees

The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol make it clear that their purpose is not to protect refugees from prosecution or asylum seekers who have engaged in unlawful conduct. Some of the grounds that States put forward to reject the requests for extradition of Rwandan fugitives include the fear that the suspects would not enjoy fair trial where they are sent or risk for denial of justice, the concerns about penalty structure, the absence of bilateral extradition treaty with Rwanda, prisons conditions in Rwanda and availability of witnesses given that some of the witnesses have sought refuge outside of Rwanda and would fear to come and testify in Rwanda. Some of the challenges that have identified in relation to the extradition and prosecution of fugitives of genocide committed against the Tutsi are the reluctance by receiving states to surrender fugitives to Rwanda or prosecute them for different grounds, the failure to cooperate with the ICTR while this is an obligation resulting not only from ICTR Statutes but also from the UN membership as it results from the UN Charter especially that the ICTR is established under chapter VII.