| What
is International Protection? |
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Most people can look
to their own governments to guarantee and protect their basic human rights
and physical security. But in the case of refugees, the country of origin has
proved itself unable or unwilling to protect those rights. UNHCR is mandated
to ensure that refugees are protected by their country of asylum, and assists
that government as far as possible in that task. UNHCR is not (and would not
wish to be) a supranational organization, and therefore cannot substitute for
the protection of a state. UNHCR's main role is to ensure that states are
aware of, and act on, their obligations to protect refugees and persons
seeking asylum.
Thus, states may not refoule, or forcibly return, refugees to a
territory where they face danger. They may not discriminate between groups of
refugees. They should ensure that refugees benefit from economic and social
rights, at least to the same degree as other foreign residents of the country
of asylum. Finally, states have an obligation to cooperate with UNHCR. And,
for humanitarian reasons, states should permit the admission of at least the
spouse and dependent children of any person to whom temporary refuge or
asylum has been granted.
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| What
rights does a refugee have? |
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A refugee has the
right to safe asylum. However, international protection comprises more than
physical safety. Refugees should receive at least the same rights and basic
help as any other foreigner who is a legal resident, including certain
fundamental entitlements of every individual. Thus refugees have basic civil
rights, including the freedom of thought, of movement, and freedom from
torture and degrading treatment.
Similarly, economic and social rights apply to refugees as they do to other
individuals. Every refugee should have access to medical care. Every adult
refugee should have the right to work. No refugee child should be deprived of
schooling.
In certain circumstances, such as large-scale inflows of refugees, asylum
states may feel obliged to restrict certain rights, such as freedom of
movement, the freedom to work, or proper schooling for all children. Such
gaps should be filled, wherever possible, by the international community.
Thus, when there are no other resources available from governments of the
country of asylum or other agencies UNHCR provides assistance to refugees
(and other persons of concern) who cannot meet their own basic needs. The
assistance may be in the form of financial grants; food; equipment, such as
kitchenware, tools, sanitation and shelter; or in programs to establish
schools or clinics for refugees who are living in a camp or other communal
grouping. UNHCR makes every effort to ensure that refugees can become
self-sufficient as swiftly as possible; this may require formal
income-generating activities or skills training projects.
Refugees also have certain obligations. In particular, they should conform to
the laws of their country of asylum.
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| Does
UNHCR actually decide who is a refugee, or is the decision up to governments? |
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A person is a refugee
whether or not a legal eligibility procedure has already recognized that
status. Governments set up status-determination procedures, for the purposes
of determining that person's legal standing and/or rights and benefits, in
accordance with their own legal system. UNHCR offers its advice as part of
the agency's mandate to promote refugee law, protect refugees, and supervise
the implementation of the 1951 Convention. The agency advocates that
governments adopt a rapid, flexible and liberal process, recognizing how
difficult it often is to document persecution.
The Executive
Committee of UNHCR (currently 50 states) sets non-binding policy
guidelines that may be useful in this respect. Additionally, UNHCR's "Handbook
on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status" is
considered an authoritative interpretation of the 1951 Convention by many
states. In some cases, UNHCR may determine that a person should have refugee
status, in countries not party to any international refugee instruments,
where the national authorities have requested UNHCR to take this role, or
where UNHCR determination is indispensable to extending its protection and
assistance.
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| Is
someone who is fleeing war, or war-related conditions such as famine and
homelessness, considered to be a refugee? |
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The main
international instrument of refugee law is a 45-year-old
treaty whose only protocol
came into force nearly three decades ago. During that time, the causes of
many refugee movements have shifted, and in recent years have principally
featured civil wars and ethnic, tribal and religious violence. UNHCR
considers that persons fleeing war and war-related conditions, and whose
state is unwilling or unable to protect them, are in need of international
protection and should be considered refugees.
Some regional instruments reflect this: the OAU
Convention in Africa, and the Cartagena
Declaration in Latin America, both explicitly define refugees in ways
that cover many war victims. However, the 1951 Convention does not
specifically address the issue of refugees from conflict (although many such
refugees are unarguably also fleeing persecution on Convention grounds). Some
countries, particularly in Western Europe, continue to argue that refugees
fleeing generalized persecution, or war or who fear persecution by
militia, rebels or anyone other than government officials should not be
given formal refugee status. However, it is UNHCR's view that a refugee need
not have been singled out for ill-treatment by a government official to be in
need of international protection.
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| When
does UNHCR help internally displaced persons? |
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Internally displaced persons
may have been forced to flee their homes for the same reasons as refugees,
but they have not crossed an internationally recognized border. There are
almost certainly more internally displaced persons in the world than
refugees. UNHCR does not have a general mandate to provide protection and
assistance to internally displaced persons.
However, UNHCR has increasingly assumed limited responsibilities for certain
groups of internally displaced persons. The agency has undertaken such
special operations on the basis of its humanitarian expertise, and in the
context of promoting and implementing durable solutions to refugee problems
such as to prevent outflows, or anchor returns. These operations have
been initiated at the request of the UN Secretary-General or the General
Assembly, with the consent of country involved.
At various times, and in operations of diverse magnitude, UNHCR has helped
internally displaced persons in Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Iraq, Liberia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Russian Federation (in
Daghestan, Ingushetia and North Ossetia), Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Tajikistan.
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| Must
every refugee undergo individual status determination? |
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Normally speaking,
people who apply for formal refugee status need to establish that their fear
of persecution is indeed well-founded. However, there have been many cases of
sudden, mass exodus resulting from campaigns of ethnic cleansing or other
attacks on entire groups. The need to provide assistance is often extremely
urgent and, for purely practical reasons, it may not be possible to carry out
individual status determinations. Particularly when it appears that all
members of a group are fleeing for similar reasons, it may be appropriate to
declare "group determination" of refugee status, whereby each
member of the group is regarded as a refugee, prima facie in other
words, in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
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| How
does UNHCR distinguish between a refugee and an economic migrant? |
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A migrant normally
leaves his or her country voluntarily, to seek a better life. To a refugee,
the economic conditions of the country of asylum are less important than its
safety. In practice the distinction may sometimes be difficult to establish,
but it is fundamental nonetheless: a migrant enjoys the protection of his or
her home government; a refugee does not.
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| May
governments deport persons who are found not to be refugees? |
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Persons who have been
determined, under an equitable procedure, not to be in need of international
protection are in a situation similar to that of illegal aliens, and may be
deported. However, UNHCR does urge that protection also be granted to people
who come from countries devastated by armed conflicts or generalized
violence. Additionally, UNHCR strongly advocates that every rejected
asylum-seeker be granted the right to a review of the rejection before being
deported.
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Can
a draft evader be refugee?
Can a criminal be a refugee? |
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Every country has the
right to call on its citizens to bear arms in periods of national emergency.
However, citizens should have an equal right to conscientious objection. In
cases where the option of conscientious objection is not observed, or where
the conflict underway manifestly violates international norms, draft evaders
who fear persecution (for example, on the basis of political opinions which
authorities could impute to them) may be eligible for refugee status.
A criminal who has received a fair trial for a common-law offense and who
flees his country to escape jail is not necessarily a refugee. However, a
person accused of these or other non-political crimes whether innocent or
guilty may also be persecuted for political or other reasons, and is thus
not necessarily excluded from refugee status. Furthermore, people convicted
of the "crime" of political activism may well be refugees.
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| Can a war criminal be a refugee? |
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Persons who have
participated in war crimes and massive violations of international
humanitarian and human rights law including the crime of genocide are
specifically excluded from the protection and assistance accorded to
refugees. Any person against whom there exist serious grounds for suspicions
of this nature should not be given protection as refugees.
For example, a number of persons suspected of serious human rights violations
may well be living in UNHCR's camps for Rwandan refugees in neighboring
countries. However, in large camps with very difficult security conditions
there are enormous practical difficulties involved in identifying, and
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assaulted during their flight and on arrival in their country of asylum, by
officials, locals, or other refugees.
UNHCR staff members have a duty to respond to physical as saults on refugees
by attempting to correct conditions that may be conducive to such assaults;
offering victims the best possible available care; and ensuring the proper
legal follow-up. This may mean that UNHCR staff members will strongly
advocate trials, and punishment, for local residents, other refugees, or even
government officials. Preventive measures may include re-thinking camp layout
or upgrading basic facilities such as lighting and walls, or encouraging
refugees to institute night patrols.
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| What
does UNHCR do to help unaccompanied child refugees find their families? |
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For UNHCR's purposes,
an unaccompanied minor is one "who is separated from both parents and
for whose care no person can be found who by law or custom has primary
responsibility." The number of unaccompanied child refugees varies
widely with the causes and conditions of exodus. However, as a rule of thumb,
scholars have estimated that unaccompanied children comprise 2 to 5 percent
of a refugee population. (Though these numbers appear to fit the Rwandan exodus, they
fail to match with Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, for example).
Typically, UNHCR works closely with other agencies to ensure that
unaccompanied children are identified and registered, and their families
traced. In the Rwanda/Burundi crisis area, for example, UNHCR has been
working with UNICEF, ICRC, Food for the Hungry and Save the Children (UK), as
well as many other NGOs, to do cross-border tracing for these children. A
regional, centralized database has been established, to register, track and
match separated family members; and local databases support local and
country-based programs. In the first year following the Rwandan exodus, more
than 21,000 unaccompanied children returned to their families throughout the
Great Lakes region.
In general, UNHCR is reluctant to promote the adoption of unaccompanied
minors out of the region of their origin, since ultimately it is often
possible to trace family members of these children.
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| What
is UNHCR's policy on resettlement? |
|
Resettlement in a third
country may be the only way to guarantee international protection of a
refugee who is being denied adequate protection in the country of asylum and
who cannot repatriate.
When large refugee flows occur, resettlement is generally not a realistic
option except for a very few individuals. Indeed, it is often not desirable.
Many refugees wish to live near their countries of origin, both because they
prefer a familiar cultural and social environment, and because their ultimate
goal is to return home. However, although voluntary re patriation is almost
always the best durable solution for most refugees, some refugees who are in
danger will always require resettlement, for political and security reasons,
or because of vulnerability. In some cases, there seems little hope of any
repatriation, and no possibility of durable local integration into the
country of asylum. At such times, resettlement in third countries may be the
only feasible option.
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| Which
countries maintain a resettlement quota? |
|
Of the 185 member
states of the United Nations, only ten establish annual
resettlement quotas over and above their acceptance of persons arriving
spontaneously at their own borders. These ten are: USA, Canada, Australia,
New Zealand, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and the
Netherlands. Other countries may consider submissions from UNHCR on a case by
case basis, normally on the basis of family reunion or strong cultural links.
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| Why
are such quotas not always filled by UNHCR? |
|
Governments are not
always ready to adapt their quotas and criteria to rapidly changing needs,
and often establish their quotas in response to domestic interest groups.
Thus they may target specific nationalities among whom UNHCR has not detected
any pressing need for resettlement.
Resettlement countries may also turn down cases such as families with
pressing medical problems or other acute needs, who may be more costly in
terms of wel fare payments, or who may have limited ability to integrate
rapidly into the resettlement country. In general, although some countries do
accept "difficult to place" hardship cases, most resettlement
countries prefer educated refugees with strong family and cultural links, an
intact family structure, and a high likelihood of rapid integration. Such
families may not always correspond to the pressing protection cases which
UNHCR attempts to resettle.
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| Are
there guidelines on stowaways, or people rescued at sea, who claim asylum? |
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Ships' masters have a
fundamental obligation under international law to rescue any persons in
distress at sea. In some cases, such as the exodus of Vietnamese boat-people,
such persons have been asylum-seekers. Ships may also discover that they are
carrying clandestine stowaways, who may also be asylum-seekers.
The established international practice is that persons rescued at sea should
be disembarked at the next port of call, where they should always be
admitted, at least on a temporary basis, pending resettlement. Certain flag
states of rescuing ships (though not all) have provided guarantees of
resettlement for persons rescued at sea.
There exists no binding international convention relating to stowaway
asylum-seekers, and practice with respect to them varies very widely. UNHCR
advocates that, wherever possible, stowaways should be allowed to disembark
at the first port of call, where their refugee status may be determined by
the local authorities. If a port state does not allow a stowaway to
disembark, and the ship's next port of call is in a state where the
stowaway's life is threatened, then the action is tantamount to refoulement.
In such cases, UNHCR officers are instructed to try to arrange for an
interview on board, and if the asylum seeker is found to be a refugee, they
are to assist in finding a durable solution usually third-country
resettlement.
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| What
is UNHCR doing to prevent statelessness? |
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The right to a
nationality is widely recognized in international law, and constitutes a
status from which other rights may derive. The problem of statelessness is
especially acute in the former East Bloc, because of the recent sudden shifts
there. However, it is widespread elsewhere, and may be particularly acute
among children of parents of mixed origin, or who are born in a country other
than their parents' country of origin, since they do not necessarily gain
citizenship of the place where they are born. Like refugees, stateless
persons may be compelled to move because they cannot receive adequate
protection.
The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness states that a person
may not be deprived of his nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or
political grounds; sketches out measures to prevent statelessness resulting
from the transfer of territory; and establishes rules for the granting of
nationality to persons born in a country who would otherwise be stateless.
The 1961 Convention, to which there are only 19 states party, stipulates that
a UN body would supervise claims under the Convention. That body was never
established as such, but UNHCR has been entrusted with its functions by the
UN General Assembly (resolution 3274 XXIX).
In 1994, UNHCR's Executive Committee urged UNHCR to strengthen its efforts
with respect to statelessness, including promoting accessions to the 1961
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1954 Convention Relating
to the Status of Stateless Persons; training; and systematic gathering of
information on the dimensions of the problem. The resulting study, which is
ongo ing, suggests that hundreds of thousands of people may be stateless
worldwide.
UNHCR has initiated a range of activities to address the issue of
statelessness in the former USSR, including workshops, promotion of both
proactive legislation and accessions to the relevant international
instruments, and through preparation for the 1996 International Conference on
Refugees and forced displacement in the CIS and Baltic States.
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| Do
refugees have a right to request resettlement in a rich country? |
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Refugees have a right
to be protected, but this is not location-specific. In the interests of
family reunification, however, refugees may request resettlement in countries
where their close family members are living.
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| May
asylum-seekers be detained? |
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Liberty is a
fundamental human right, like asylum. As a general rule, detention of
asylum-seekers is not acceptable. It is particularly undesirable when those
detained include the very vulnerable children, single women, and people
with special medical or psychological needs, such as torture victims. They
are not criminals; they have already suffered great hardship and jailing them
is wrong.
The 1951 Convention specifically bars countries from punishing people who
have arrived directly from a country of persecution (or from another country
where protection could not be assured), provided that they present themselves
speedily to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry.
Monitoring (through reporting obligations or guarantor requirements) is often
a perfectly viable alternative to imprisoning asylum-seekers.
Detention is only acceptable if it is brief, absolutely necessary, and
instituted after other options have been implemented. Acceptable purposes
include to verify identity; to determine the elements on which the claim for
asylum is based; the protection of public order; or, if necessary, in cases
where refugees have destroyed documents or used fraudulent ones. Detained
asylum-seekers should always be informed of their rights including the
right to challenge their imprisonment. All asylum-seekers must maintain the
possibility of contacting the local UNHCR office, other agencies, and a
lawyer.
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The High
Commissioner With the retirement of Sadako Ogata at the end of 2000,
UNHCR welcomed its new High Commissioner, Ruud Lubbers.