Why The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating To The Status Of Refugees?
Refugees
According to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee as a person residing outside his or her country of nationality, who is unable or unwilling to return because of a ‘well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a political social group, or political opinion’(UN General Assembly, 1951) 145 UN member states have signed the 1951 convention (UNHCR 2015). However, most of the forced migrants in the world do not fulfil the convention criteria. In addition to the 1951 convention, 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention defines a refugee as anyone compelled to leave his or her home country "owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country or origin or nationality." By this definition, the people who flee the war were included. Despite many African states follow this definition, most Northern states don not.
1951 Convention had a geographic and temporal limitations when it was limited to Europe to persons who became refugees as a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 (UNHCR, 2015). However, the need for expanding the Convention to allow the refugees from all …show more content…
According to Turton (2003), since the political conflicts usually accompanied with violence, economic problems, and human rights violation, the asylum seekers category has evolved because of the difficulty in the distinction between economically motivated migrants and people who are compelled to flee for political reasons. Determination procedures may prolong in many cases for several years, usually, they do not have right to work and during that they may live in a type of uncertainty or
According to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee as a person residing outside his or her country of nationality, who is unable or unwilling to return because of a ‘well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a political social group, or political opinion’(UN General Assembly, 1951) 145 UN member states have signed the 1951 convention (UNHCR 2015). However, most of the forced migrants in the world do not fulfil the convention criteria. In addition to the 1951 convention, 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention defines a refugee as anyone compelled to leave his or her home country "owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country or origin or nationality." By this definition, the people who flee the war were included. Despite many African states follow this definition, most Northern states don not.
1951 Convention had a geographic and temporal limitations when it was limited to Europe to persons who became refugees as a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 (UNHCR, 2015). However, the need for expanding the Convention to allow the refugees from all …show more content…
According to Turton (2003), since the political conflicts usually accompanied with violence, economic problems, and human rights violation, the asylum seekers category has evolved because of the difficulty in the distinction between economically motivated migrants and people who are compelled to flee for political reasons. Determination procedures may prolong in many cases for several years, usually, they do not have right to work and during that they may live in a type of uncertainty or