buddies

Refugees/ Asylum Seekers/ Migrants

Who is a refugee?

According to the United Nations Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (also called the Refugees Convention), a refugee is someone who is outside their own country and cannot return due to a well-founded fear of persecution because of their:
race
religion
nationality
membership of a particular social group or
political opinion

Who is an asylum seeker?

An asylum seeker is someone who has fled their own country and applies to the government of another country for protection as a refugee. People experiencing persecution have a fundamental human right to seek and enjoy asylum in other countries. This right is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the united Nations in 1948.

How do refugees differ from migrants?

Refugees are not in the same situation as migrants, although the two groups are often confused. Migrants choose when to leave their country, (usually to improve their economic situation, or to be reunited with family), they choose where they go and when they return. Refugees flee their country for their own safety, and cannot return unless the situation that forced them to leave, improves.

(Amnesty International, with permission)