Sometimes we may think of refugees as being people from a country far far away who have voluntarily left their home country because they are looking for a better way of life. Many of us, including me, would at some point even mistakenly use the terms “refugees” and “migrants” interchangeably. These terms are totally different with distinct legal and/or practical meaning.
A quick read of the term “refugee” in the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees show that the term “refugee” has a specific definition in international law.
The term “refugee” is defined in the mentioned documents and applies to any person who:
“… owing to 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 or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it”.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there is no universally accepted definition for “migrant” at the international level. However, for its own purposes, the IOM defines the term “migrant” as follows:
“An umbrella term, not defined under international law, reflecting the common lay understanding of a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons. The term includes a number of well-defined legal categories of people, such as migrant workers; persons whose particular types of movements are legally-defined, such as smuggled migrants; as well as those whose status or means of movement are not specifically defined under international law, such as international students.”
I believe that using the appropriate terms will allow us to better understand the magnitude and issues surrounding refugees and migrants.
For example, according to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), there are more than 80 million forcibly displaced people worldwide of which 45.7 million are internally displaced people; 26.3 million are refugees and 4.2 million are asylum seekers.
Furthermore, the current global estimate is that in 2019 there were around 272 million international migrants, which equates to 3.5% of the global population.
Please feel free to direct any questions or comments to Kean Smith at kean@smithkas.com
The article was informative.
I wonder however if the criteria to be considered a refugee was framed as such because of the cold war politics of the time (1950s and 1960s).
In a world that now has to annually deal with extreme weather events perhaps the criteria that establishes who is and isn’t a refugee should be updated.
Is there some truth to what I said?
Thank you.
Spenser,
As I understand it, the criteria to be considered a refugee was heavily influenced by the number of civilians becoming homeless during the Second World World.
Your point about climate change is absolutely relevant. Presently, people who must relocate within their country because of climate change related issues are considered Internally Displaced People (IDP). If they have to leave their home country then they are not considered Refugees or IDPs. I understand that this is an issue that UNHCR is giving some attention.
Thanks for your comments.