World Refugee Day, June 20
- Guest essay on migration by Michael Boampong: Irregular Migration Among Young People
- Slideshow:
Who Are the Roma? While not refugees, many of the Roma lack the legal status necessary for enrolling in school or claiming social and health benefits.
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees. UNHCR aims at safeguarding the rights and well-being of refugees.
- Ben Affleck “Gimme Shelter” Campaign. The actor has teamed up with UNHCR to help victims of fighting in the Eastern Congo.
- UNHCR Global Report 2008. Challenges and achievements worldwide.
- Futures Denied: Statelessness Among Infants, Children, and Youth. Statelessness—or lack of effective nationality—affects the lives of many children around the world. This report aims for increased recognition of every child’s right to a nationality.
- Refugees International. Advocates for assistance and protection of displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises.
- People Move, a blog about migration, remittances and development
Scientists predict that in the near future, impacts of climate change such as rising seas, droughts, and floods may cause wide-scale human migration. Estimates as to the number of uprooted people range from 25–50 million by 2010, to almost 700 million by 2050. Read more in this report from the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
June 15, 2009—World Refugee Day focuses on, and raises awareness about, the millions of refugees living without material, social and legal protection.
Who Are Refugees?
The word "refugee" is used in everyday speech to describe people who have fled their home and country because of danger. International law, though, has a much more precise definition; according to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is someone 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…"
To be given legal refugee status, the government of the new country has to decide whether the person meets the definition of a refugee as established by the Convention.
In 2008, there were about 11.4 million refugees in the world. Refugees often face discrimination in their host countries. Many people believe that they will be a burden on the country. Others believe they might threaten their country’s cultural and racial balance. In reality, refugees can definitely make a positive addition to their new homelands. This video from the Red Cross discusses how refugees have positively contributed to British Society.
Not Refugees, But Facing Similar Issues
Not all people on the move classify as refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR has several other classifications:
- Internally Displaced People (IDPs), 13.7 million
Someone who has been forced to move from his or her home because of conflict, persecution, natural disaster or some other similar circumstance. Unlike refugees IDPs remain inside their own country. Currently, more than 2 million IDPs in Pakistan are the focus of an unfolding humanitarian crisis resulting from government-militant clashes. - Stateless People, 3 million
A stateless person is either not considered a national of any state, or does not have the same fundamental rights enjoyed by other nationals in his or her home state. Statelessness mostly affects refugees, but not all refugees are stateless and not all stateless people are given refugee status. People may be stateless if they belong to a group which is denied citizen status in the country where they were born, if they were born in disputed territories, if they were born in an area whose independence is not internationally recognized, or if they were born on territory over which no modern state claims sovereignty. Many of the Roma fall into this category. A recent report from Refugees International, titled Futures Denied: Statelessness Among Infants, Children, and Youth, highlights the serious impact of statelessness on children around the world. - Asylum Seekers, 740,100
An asylum seeker is someone who has made a claim that he or she is a refugee, and is waiting for that claim to be accepted or rejected. - Migrants, 180 million
This wide-ranging term covers most people who move to a foreign country for a variety of reasons and for a certain length of time. It is different from “immigrant,” which means someone who takes up permanent residence in a country other than his or her original homeland. And “economic migrants” are those who leave their country of origin for financial reasons, rather than for refugee ones.
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