Week 5 Flashcards
Migrants
Choose to move not because of a direct threat of persecution or death, but mainly to improve their live by finding work, or in some cases for education, family reunion. Migrants can choose to return home, they will continue to receive the protection of their government
Refugees
People who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country. Is someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owning to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group
Asylum seeker
Someone whose request for sanctuary has yet to be processed
Internally displaced people
Have not crossed a border to find safety. Unlike refugees, they are on the run at home. IDPs stay within their own country and remain under the protection of its government, even if that government is the reason for their displacement
Refugee law
The body of (customary) international law that establishes the rights and duties states have vis-a-vis refugees
International human rights law
Governs the obligations of states towards citizens and other individuals within their jurisdiction
Humanitarian law
Regulates the law in war or armed conflict and seeks to limit the effects of war by protecting persons who are not participating in hostilities
1951 refugees convention. Art 1. Defines a refugee as a person who:
As a result of events and owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country
1967 protocol relation to the status of refugees
Removed the temporal and geographic restrictions, thus defining a refugee as:
A person who owning to a well-founded fear of being persecuted … is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country
Fundamental principles
- Non-discrimination
- Non-penalization
- Non-refoulement
Non-discrimination
Art 3, the contracting states shall apply the provisions of this convention to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion, or country of origin
Non-penalization
Art 31, subject to specific exceptions refugees should not be penalized for their illegal entry or stay
Non-refoulement
Art 33, no contracting state shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers 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
Securitization
Constructivist ‘Copenhagen School’
From objective security to perceived security
Broader focus than military threats
Non-politicized
The state does not cope with the issue. The issue is not included in the public debate
