Floridia Daniela - Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced People: international protection instruments and standards

Refugees are legally defined as people who are outside their countries because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group, and who cannot or do not want to return home. The 1951 UN Refugee Convention is the main international instrument of refugee law and contains the refugee definition, the contents of refugee status, the principle of non-refoulement. Other international legal instruments protecting basic human rights are also relevant in the refugee context. People who apply for refugee status need to establish that their fear of persecution is well-founded on the basis of this Convention.
Among refugees, the most vulnerable are children, women, elderly people, torture’s victims; they all have particular needs, which have to be fulfilled from their entry in the State of asylum, through the refugee status determination procedure and the integration process.
Protecting refugees is the core mandate of UNHCR. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established by the UN General Assembly in 1950, one of several attempts by the international community during the 20th century to provide protection and assistance to refugees. The League of Nations, the forerunner of the UN, had named Norwegian scientist and explorer Fridtjof Nansen to the post of High Commissioner as early as 1921. World War II provided the impetus for several new organizations: the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, followed by the International Refugee Organization and finally by UNHCR.
The number of refugees worldwide has reached a 26-year low: global refugee numbers have fallen by 31 percent since 2001, from 12.1 million to 8.4 million at the end of 2005. All five regions covered by UNHCR reported a decrease in the refugee population in 2005. However the international community still has a long way to go in resolving the plight of millions of internally displaced people in places like Darfur, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Internally displaced people (IDPs) flee their homes for the same reasons as refugees, but remain within their own country and are thus subject to the laws of that state.

ProtezioneDeiRifiugiati.pdf (115 KB)