Section 14 2017 Refugees Act establishes criteria for individuals to be excluded from international protection, even if these individuals would otherwise meet the criteria of the refugee definition. Section 14(3) 2017 Refugees Act provides that the Commissioner ‘shall not grant a person or asylum seeker refugee status under this Act if that person or asylum seeker:
(a) having more than one nationality, had not availed oneself of the protection of one of the countries of which the person is a national, and has no valid reason, based on well-founded fear of persecution,                                                                                                                      (b) has been granted refugee status or asylum in another country before that person’s entry into Zambia, except that a person arriving from a territory where there has been serious breach of peace shall have that person’s application for asylum considered, and
(c) has before that person’s entry into Zambia transited through one or more countries and is unable to show reasonable cause for failure to seek asylum in those countries.’

Section 14(3)(a) of the Refugees Act 2017 treats persons who have not availed themselves of the protection of a country of their nationality as an exclusion ground. Under the 1951 Convention, this question belongs to the inclusion assessment (Article 1A(2)), not the exclusion assessment, so the provision departs from the Convention's inclusion/exclusion logic. Article 1E, by contrast, excludes persons who have taken up residence in a country other than their country of origin and whom the competent authorities of that country recognise as having the rights and obligations attached to its nationality. Zambia has therefore not domesticated Article 1E on persons not in need of international protection. Furthermore, sections 14(3)(b) and (c) go beyond the exhaustive exclusion ground in Art. 1E of the 1951 Convention by introducing grounds not found in it.

Section 14(3)(b) 2017 Refugees Act excludes persons who already have obtained refugee status in another country. While the exclusion of persons for this reason is practiced in other jurisdictions as well, there is a need for safeguards in case of continued fear of persecution tied to the Convention grounds in their first country of asylum and to prevent refoulement. This norm, however, only creates an exception for persons fleeing from their first country of asylum in case of a serious breach of peace amplifying the rationale of the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention. While this limitation of the exclusion ground is an important safeguard, protection-relevant circumstances causing a person to flee their first country of asylum are not considered and create a protection risk by excluding persons in need of international protection or even resulting in refoulement.

Section 14(3)(c) 2017 Refugees Act excludes persons who might have had a chance to seek asylum while passing through another country before entering Zambia. While the rationale of this norm is similar to section 14(3)(b) 2017 Refugees Act, it would require further definition and delimitation as well as significant safeguards. It creates significant protection risks because of the abstract assessment of the possibility of seeking asylum in another country without any protection-sensitive criteria, unclear standards and thresholds and limited consideration of individual circumstances. Furthermore, there are no protection-sensitive safeguards, potentially excluding persons in need of protection or even resulting in refoulement. This norm also particularly hinders refugees from non-neighbouring countries in accessing asylum in Zambia and therefore creates a difference in treatment among asylum seekers.

Persons with international protection needs arriving in Zambia include, Somalis, Burundians, Rwandans and others who often travel through several countries to seek protection in Zambia, and section 14(3)(c) 2017 Refugees Act legally limits their right to seek asylum in Zambia.