1+-+Who+are+Refugees?

"A person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution."

 - Article 1, 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees

Key points:
 * Refugees are forced to flee their country because of the threat of persecution
 * They cannot return safely to their homes in the prevailing circumstances.

An immigrant is a person who has chosen to settle permanently in another country.

United Nations Refugee Convention (1951)

 * Clearly spells out who is a refugee and the kind of legal protection, other assistance and social rights he or she should receive from states who are parties to the document
 * Basic human rights outlined in the document include right to freedom of religion and movement, right to work, education and accessibility to travel documents
 * Also defines a refugee's obligations to host governments (i.e. respecting the laws and regulations of their country of asylum)
 * States that refugees should not be returned to a country where he or she fears persecution
 * Initially limited to protecting mainly European refugees in the aftermath of World War II, but a 1967 Protocol expanded the scope
 * A total of 145 states have ratified the U.N. convention
 * UN High Commission for Refugees currently helps around 20 million people
 * Does not specifically cover Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as they have not crossed an international border

The role of the UN High Commission on Refugees

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Host governments are primarily responsible for protecting refugees
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">UNHCR maintains a "watching brief," intervening if necessary to ensure bona fide refugees are granted asylum and not forcibly returned to countries where their lives may be in danger
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Seeks ways to help refugees restart their lives
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Local integration
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Voluntary return to their homeland
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Resettlement in 'third' countries

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">UNHCR Global Trends Report 2009
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An overall picture of the worldwide refugee situation:

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Refugees are not a homogeneous group:
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> While the definitions of who is considered a refugee are specific, the personal experiences of each individual are very different. Refugees may or may not have experienced varying degrees of torture, physical or sexual abuse, intimidation, or harassment. They may have experienced the death of loved ones, or have been separated from them. The amount of time spent in refugee camps varies greatly; some individuals may have lived in several places after leaving their country of origin.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here are a couple of examples of possible situations refugees may have experienced before arrival in Canada:
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http://www.playagainstallodds.com/
==== <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Heroes, all of them – at least they’re my heroes, especially the immigrants, especially the refugees. Everyone makes fun of New York cabdrivers who can’t speak English: they’re heroes. To give up your country is the hardest thing a person can do: to leave the old familiar places and ship out over the edge of the world to America and learn everything over again different than you learned as a child, learn the language that you will never be so smart funny in as your true language. It takes years to start to feel semi-normal. And yet people still come – Russia, Vietnam and Cambodia and Laos, Ethiopia, Iran, Haiti, Korea, Cuba, Chile, and they come on behalf of their children, and they come for freedom. Nor for our land (Russia is as beautiful), not for our culture (they have their own, thank you), not for our system of government (they don’t even know about it, may not even agree with it), but for freedom. They are heroes who make an adventure on our behalf, showing by their struggle how precious beyond words freedom is, and if we knew their stories, we could not keep back the tears." ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">﻿Garrison Keillor, Newsweek July 4, 1998, as quoted in //Immigrant Medicine,// Walker, P.E. & Barnett, E.D., Saunders Elsevier, 2007, p. 7.

For more information on the UN High Commission for Refugees see: [|www.unhcr.ca]