A stateless person is a person who is not a citizen of a country. Citizenship is the legal link between a government and an individual and allows certain political, economic, social and other rights of the individual, as well as the responsibilities of the government and citizens. A person may become stateless for a variety of reasons, including sovereign, legal, technical or administrative decisions or omissions. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights emphasizes that “everyone has the right to a nationality”. Pingback: Illegal Nations and Their Illegal Politicians | Camino Milagro – March 10, 2016 For the person to be considered a refugee, all requirements must be met. For example, a person may have a well-founded fear and not receive protection, but if that person is not afraid of persecution on a Convention ground, then legally the person is not a refugee. Another person may meet all the other criteria for refugee status, but live in a refugee camp in their own country, in which case they are not a refugee and are often referred to as internally displaced. Want to know more? If you are interested in refugee law and practice, visit Colin Free Movement`s blog and website, including the Free Movement online course, which covers the topic in more detail, including case law, the type of treatment persecution might constitute, and the importance of Convention grounds. Learn more about training and adhering to free movement here. Alternatively, you can buy the UK refugee law e-book here. The purpose of the Convention is to ensure the protection of Convention refugees by ensuring that they are not returned to their country or sent to another territory where they could be persecuted.
Article 33 establishes the principle of non-refoulement: “No State Party shall in any way expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee to the borders of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” However, this protection does not apply to persons who pose a threat to the security of their host country (Article 33(2)). The Geneva Convention does not exclude the return of asylum seekers to safe third countries. Asylum seekers staying illegally in one country may be invited to apply for protection in another country, but those who are legally present cannot be expelled from its territory (Article 32). Nothing in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees excludes from refugee status a person who, in addition to a well-founded fear of persecution, etc., also wishes for a better life. If you were to flee Afghanistan, Eritrea, Syria or elsewhere, wouldn`t you want to settle in a place that is not only safe, but also able to rebuild your life, find a job and be accompanied by your family? This is one of the many reasons why it is cruel and inhumane to bring refugees to Rwanda. The prospects of building a new life for you and your family in Rwanda are far worse than in the UK. Refugee status first emerged as a legal category in the United States in the 1940s, in response to an influx of Eastern Europeans fleeing communism. In response to this influx, Congress noted that refugee migration, on the recommendation of the House Committee on Postwar Immigration, was “separate and separate from general immigration admissions.” [23] The Committee argued that the right to seek refugee protection should be “explicitly part of U.S. immigration policy.” [24] In 1984, a group of Latin American governments adopted the Cartagena Declaration which, like the OAU Convention, added more objectivity based on a comprehensive review of the 1951 Convention.
The Cartagena Declaration states that a refugee includes: Although often used interchangeably by the public, there are crucial differences between the terms “refugee” and “migrant”: some people attach great importance to the difference between refugees and economic migrants.
