Who is a refugee

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Who is a refugee?

• Refugees flee because of the threat of
  persecution and they cannot return safely to
  their homes in the prevailing circumstances
• A refugee is a person who is being persecuted
  because of
• - race, religion, membership of a particular
  social group, nationality or
• political opinion
• The persecution is personal and individual need
  to establish individually that their fear of
  persecution is well-founded
• Human rights violations are the main cause why
  people become refugees

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What is a refugee like?

• 49 are women
• 43 of refugees
• are under 18 years
• of age
• Common that the first to encounter
  violence are the educated active
• people

REFUGEE
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Who are the refugees?
AMONG 130 PERSONS THERE IS ONE REFUGEE
EVERY DAY ALMOST 10 000 PEOPLE FLEE FROM THEIR
HOMES
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• Group determination of refugee status, where by
  each civilian is considered a refugee, prima
  facie (in the absence of evidence to the
  contrary)
• War, famine, environmental disasters or poverty
  are often the final reasons for fleeing

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The Geneva Refugee Convention 1951(United
Nations)

• A refugee is a person who
• owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted
  for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
  membership of a particular social group, or
  political opinion, is outside the country of his
  nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such
  fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the
  protection of that country
• The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of
  Refugees,
• 142 States Parties to the convention (July 1.
  2003)

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• The 1951 Geneva Convention does not specifically
  address the issue of civilians fleeing conflict,
  though in recent years major refugee movements
  have resulted from civil wars, ethnic, tribal and
  religious violence
• - Africas OAU Convention (Organisation for
  African Unity)
• - The Cartagena Declaration in Latin America
• The main reason why people flee is human rights
  violations. Without them there would be no
  refugees.
• Refugees cannot return to their home country
  until the conditions there change and improve
• Countries may not forcibly return refugees to a
  territory where they face danger or discriminate
  between groups of refugees

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The Geneva Refugee Convention 1951

• central to the convention is the principle of
  non-refoulement
• the non-forcible return of people to countries
  where they face persecution is a part of
  customary international law
• ? binding on all states
• ? the key provision stipulates that refugees
  should not be returned to a country where
  he or she fears persecution
• FOR MORE INFORMATION
• www.unhcr.ch
• www.unhcr.se

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• Originally adopted to deal with the aftermath of
  World War II in Europe and growing East-West
  political tensions
• though the nature of conflict and migration
  patterns have changed in the intervening decades,
  the convention has proved resilient in helping to
  protect people in all types of situations

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• Since 2000 there has been discussion on adapting
  the convention to better suit the demand and
  situations of modern times
• internal displacement
• poverty
• environmental disasters and problems
• famine and hunger