Refugee

An Armenian refugee woman with her son. (Armenian Genocide)
A refugee camp in Chad, linked to the Darfur conflict.

In 1951, the United Nations (UN) law called Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, said a refugee was a person who is forced to leave their country due to natural disasters or war and conflict.

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 their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country.[1]

In 1967 the Conventions’ 1967 protocol and regional conventions in Africa and Latin America were added to include persons who had fled war and violence in their country. A person who is seeking to be recognized as a refugee is an asylum seeker. In the United States a recognized asylum seeker is known as an asylee.[2]

A refugee is a person who has to leave his or her country. This can be because of different reasons:

Refugee Media

References

  1. UNHCR - Refugees. unhcr.org (2012). Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  2. USCIS - Asylee. uscis.gov (2012). Retrieved 5 June 2012.

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