[Jimbee (OP)]

I actually started thinking about this when I was a small child. It was shortly after the war in Vietnam and I was wondering if a draft dodger could go to a church and claim right of sanctuary to escape the war. People who I asked back then either said they thought not or weren't sure.

So is there a law of sanctuary? I live in the US so I am of course talking about English-speaking countries. But what about the rest of Europe? What about places like South America? A universal right? Or do any of these places like that have a right of sanctuary at all? And can you use it to escape arrest, like in the Victor Hugo novel the Hunchback of Notre-Dame? Could you use it to escape the draft? Or is this just another urban legend? (It's interesting, because like in the novel it would only help you while you were in the church. So the church would have to be in on it and they would have to keep you there as long as necessary.)