The opportunity to effect this detachment was greatest at the outset of the influx, when the suspect elements had yet to consolidate themselves within the camps. Over time, the absence of an enforcement capacity rendered separation and the apprehension of suspects more difficult. There is a need for the international community to regard the exclusively civilian character of refugee camps and principles of exclusion as imperatives which can and must be simultaneously pursued with the objectives of humanitarian assistance. One lesson of the Rwandan refugee crisis is that these vital elements should be inseparable, particularly in situations of mass influx. The exclusion clauses help maintain the integrity of the institution of asylum, by not according the rights and benefits attached to the possession of refugee status to persons bearing the taint of grave rights violations or serious criminal conduct.
Exclusion clauses form part of the definition of who has the right to enjoy asylum.
The fundamental core of these principles is that the international interests served by exclusion clauses may not be pursued at the expense of the rights of genuine refugees, or at the cost of diminishing the basic precepts of international protection.