Refugee

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]

An Armenian refugee woman with her son. (Armenian Genocide)

A refugee camp in Chad, linked to the Darfur conflict.

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:

• It is no longer safe to stay, due to natural disaster such as flood or famine, war, or civil unrest
• Persecutions may be going on.
• The person may be unable to sustain himself or herself economically.
• The person might have been expelled
• The person might have to leave for religious reasons