411: Refugees
Refugees are people who are forced to leave their home country to seek protection in another country. The term "refugee" is commonly used to describe a person seeking protection from harm. However, the legal definition of a refugee (the definition that is used by countries to decide if they will offer protection to the individual) is narrower.
Most countries, including Canada, use the definition from the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees, commonly known as the "Refugee Convention".
A refugee is a person 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..." The 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees
Definitions
An asylum seeker is someone who has left his or her own country, but who has not been recognized as a refugee.
- A refugee is someone who has left their own country and is unable to return to it "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion".
(Source: The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees)
An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who has left their home in fear of persecution but who has not crossed an international border. - An immigrant is someone who moves to a foreign country as a permanent resident. Legal immigrants get permission to live in a country, whilst illegal immigrants cross the border unofficially and are not registered.
- A migrant is someone who moves from one place to another, either within or outside his or her own country. Many are called 'economic' migrants as they have moved because of poverty.
At the end of 2002, around 13 million people were seeking protection outside of their own countries, many having fled to escape violent and bloody conflicts and repression. The majority of these people were women and children. Often irresponsible arms sales fuelled the wars and grave human rights abuses that forced them from their homes, destroyed their lives and livelihoods, and condemned them to poverty. Refugees are particularly vulnerable to armed violence.
During the Rwandan conflict in 1994, refugee camps were repeatedly attacked by armed political groups, and countless refugees were killed, tortured, abducted, and raped as they fled from one camp to another trying to avoid the violence. At least once, in an attempt to frighten refugees into leaving, a helicopter gun-ship flew low over a camp and launched an attack resulting in deaths and injuries.
Effects on Children
Children depend on others for care and protection when war or disaster strikes. In any emergency, children are always the most vulnerable - less able to fend for themselves, are at risk of being separated from their families, they are more susceptible to hunger and illness, and risk being recruited to fight adults' wars. In any emergency, one of the first casualties is the healthy development of children.
Children have particular needs in emergencies, which fall into three main categories:
- Material (such as shelter, food and health)
- Developmental (such as schooling and play)
- Emotional (protection and psychological healing)
