Refugees and Migrants May Appear

REFUGEES and MIGRANTS may appear to have similar problems and reasons for migration yet they cannot be placed in the same category. Refugee is a distinct category due to political, social and economic factors influencing his or her abandonment of homeland. On the other hand, migrants usually leave their countries of their own accord and thus cannot be treated as refugees. This distinction is important for political reasons.

In the UN Convention of 1951 refugees were described as someone who leaves their country, "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it." (unhchr.ch) Refugees are in dire need of protection in the countries they migrate to. That is not the case with migrants who usually move due to social and economic reasons but have no fear of being persecuted.

Why is it important to make a distinction between refugees and migrants?

This is an important question. If refugees and migrants both leave their countries and enter another, why is it still important to clearly differentiate between the two? The reason is grounded in political realities. Often people from other countries seeking entry or citizenship of another country would abuse asylum laws and show themselves as refugees when they are not. Many countries including Germany had an open policy about refugee entry. They would allow people to land on their territory and file for refugee protection. This however led to abuse of asylum protection and in the United States, this is no longer allowed. Especially in the wake of 9/11, many States have simply stopped this procedure and foreign nationals are prohibited from filing for refugee status upon their arrival in the state.

But this is causing problems for genuine refugees. One article writes, "It is also of grave concern that the restrictive measures introduced to curb irregular migration and combat human smuggling and trafficking are applied indiscriminately and prevent refugees from gaining access to asylum procedures of another State and entry to the territory." This practice of not accepting refugee applications is however against the 1951 Convention where it was made clear that refugee will not be returned to areas where their lives are in danger. But since its not a clear violation, nothing has been done to rectify the situation. U.S. can also claim that this is being done in the name of homeland security. However we must understand that UN Convention makes a very clear distinction between refugee and migrant and grants utmost support to the former. The Convention unanimously accepted the fact that refugees are "extremely marginalized and vulnerable people. They have ceased to be under the protection of the governments of their own countries, and are unable to return home through fear of persecution." (UN Convention, p.13)

In similar charitable vein the Conventional also urged the contracting states not to refuse refugee application. Article 33.1 states:

No Contracting State shall expel or return ('refouler') a refugee in any manner 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."

This is the guiding principle that guides asylum laws around the world. United nations human rights commission is seriously concerned about the plight of refugees and those under fear of persecution and thus wants contracting states to extend assistance. However countries are concerned about their own security problems and thus refuse to acknowledge all refugee applications. The number of applications has thus gone down seriously. One key article states: "...2005 saw the lowest number of asylum-seekers since 1987. During the first months of 2006, applications dropped a further 14 per cent, compared to the same period last year. While this continued decline can be partially attributed to improved conditions in some of the countries of origin, it may also be due to the introduction of more restrictive asylum policies, notably in Europe."