REFUGEE CONCEPT

FRANK ASSEKO

Introduction:

Who is a refugee? (common attributes

Trace the origin of International refugee protection in modern states?

Who is a refugee- law? (Geneva Convention)

Implication and Weaknesses of the Geneva Convention?

Other response to refugee problem (OAU and Cartagena Convention?

Common Definition (Attributes) A person who has been obliged to

abandon his or her usual place of residence- Media Journalist

Constitute people who have been forced from their homes as a result of war, political oppression

People displaced across borders- UNHCR

Common Definition (Attributes) ‘Boats people’- Canary Island

People who live in sprawling camps and are dependent on international relief organizations for their basic needs

Origin of Int’l Refugees Protection

Human history- displacement has existed since the beginning of organized settlement

Ancient civilization Human migration in Africa- led to permanent settlement

Historians- refugee is a problem is a modern concept- 21st century

Cont’d Refugeehood is associated to

Westphalia Treaty of 1648 & romantic nationalism in Europe (Factors)

Recognition of sovereignty State responsibility- individual protection & territory Country of nationality- people crossing border required to show identification

WhenRefugee is anyone fleeing a problem usually not of their own making, heading towards another country or a place within the country of their origin

1680-religious problems- HuguenotsLaw that outlawed Protestantism in France- US, Switzerland, SA, Germany & Prussia

People fleeing Russian industrial revolution & political revolution (1917) 1881-1920- Eastern Europe

Emigration of Jews

1920- Unrestricted migration no need categorize (protect)

Early Promise of Inte’l Refugee Protection

End of WWI measures begun to be put in place to regulate and resolve refugee problems

Why?– States allowed unrestricted migration- states did

not see each other as threats- Britain, Germany competition for balance of power, industrial revolution & transatlantic trade, colonialism

– magnitude of displaced people- 9.5 millionDefine and give reasons for being a

refugee

Cont’d…. First World – 1914-1918:

Breakdown of Ottoman & Austro-Hungarian Empire Russian revolution (1917) & creation of Soviet Union Russia- fleeing civil conflict, persecution & totalitarian regime & emerging ideology of Soviet U.

League of Nations- (Res. 26 Feb 1921)- HCR ( Nansen Fridtjof)- travel documents- Nansen Passport- travel to safe places

Cont’d Who were refugees?

Russian origin (territorial root) who did not enjoy or no longer enjoys protection of national govt of USSR & who has not acquire any other nationalityArmenian origin formerly subject of Ottoman empire ……….. Of Turkish Republic ………

1928- civil wars, & ethnic tensionsTurkish, Assyrian & Assyro-Chaldeans

Definition of refugee was territorially based

Characteristics of definition- ethnic not territory

No specific reason for fleeing

Cont’d…… 1930:

Convention relating to Int’l status of Refugees- Oct, 1933

1938: possessing or having possessed German nationality & not possessing any other nationality who are proved not to enjoy (in law or fact) protection of German govtStateless persons not covered by previous convention who have left GermanyExempted people who left Germany for personal convenience

Cont’d….. End of WWII

UN-develop a definition & means of handling refugee crises IRO- displaced persons

person who has been deported from or has been obliged to leave his country of nationality or a former habitual residence as a result of Nazi or fascist regimes of similar regimes which assisted them against the UN eg people compelled to undertake forced labor or who were deported for religious, racial or political reasons

victims of Falangist regimes- Spain Unaccompanied children, war orphans outside their country of orgin

Present Definition 1951 Geneva Convention 1967 Protocol Universal Declaration on Human

Rights- 1948 Humanitarian Law

1951 Geneva Convention- Definition

Refers to a person who– as a result of events occurring before 1

Jan, 1951 and 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 or who not having a nationality & being outside the country of his habitual residence as a result of events occurring in Europe and else where is unable or owing to such fear is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country’

1967 Protocol- Definition Refers to a person who

– ‘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’

Legal Definition

Well-founded- necessity Asylum need no proof of prior persecutions for refugee status (support claim)

Persecution- torture, illegal deprivation, of freedom or extrajudicial execution

Canada- psychological trauma (determination)- loss of children

Somalia (B. (P.V) (Re), C.R.D.D. No.12 (QL)- lost protection of her child & hence will be further unable to protect her daughter from being subjected to FGM

Legal Definition

Economic measures Exclusion from labor market & possibility to gain an income Proof that subsistence or existenzminimum is threatened Yesidis in German not Syro-orthodox Christians- gain Istanbul

Weaknesses of the Convention

Definition is ambiguous- interpretation and application

Convention refugees Embraces only person at risk of Eurocentric forms of harm Person is a refugee only if genuinely at risk of persecution

Weaknesses:

Regarding- ground for protection Tortured because you’re black person Vs. discriminative punishment by a brutal dictator = Consequence the same- respect of basic human rights 1991- English court of queen’s bench- refused to grant protection Togo Muslim (Alassini) -argued if he return to his country likely to be an object of human sacrifice- common among other beliefs systems who believe in human sacrifices

Weaknesses:

Fails to recognize the claims of persons whose predicaments do not resemble those of post-WWII

More attention to failed states Fails to capture- more active forms of persecutionIgnores the needs of involuntary migrants who can’t link their fears to the five groundsCriterion alienates- IDP’s ethical

Weaknesses of the Convention

USA until 1980 considered refugees to be people escaping communism – Refugee who were a product of

colonialism not refugees

Convention indirectly targeted Soviet Union and its communist allies

Vagueness of the reasons- 5

Weaknesses:Persons displaced externally for reasons

other than individualized persecution- Armed conflict

Omission of people who have not crossed International border

African states Response to 1951 Convention

African states became party to the Convention though the Convention failed to legally encompass refugees in Africa

– African states were not therefore not

under legal obligation to accord any standards of treatment of refugees in Africa

African states Response to 1951 Convention

– The Convention also did not reflect the refugee situation in Africa

– There was thus a need to come up with a legal instrument to reflect Africa reality

African Response to 1951 Convention

The of a Convention was also prompted by increase in refugees resulting from national liberation and decolonization wars– Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Sao

Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau

– The flow of refugees to other countries because a source of friction- Rwanda and Burundi

Council of African Response to 1951 Convention Ministers recommended African Refugee Convention- meeting in Addis Ababa

– To avoid impairing UNHCR- the temporariness of UN Convention was removed

– Sep 1969 OAU Convention was adopted and came into force 20th June 1974- hence World Refugee Day

OAU 1969 Refugee Convention- Definition

States that Refugee:– ‘Shall apply to every person who owing

to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or whole of his country of origin or nationality is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality’

Cartagena Declaration- Definition

Cartagena Declaration (South and Central America)– Places less emphasis on a fear of

persecution and more on objective conditions of violence and disorder in the country of origin

Categories of “Refugees”Identify Categories

categories of Refugees Stateless persons-

– Persons who are not considered nationals of any state under operational law

– Victims of territorial alignment – residents of Uganda expelled by Idi Amin,

– Resident had neither Uganda or British passports

Convention Refugees (Official):Have protection rights to seek asylum and

guarantee that they will not be repatriated Once granted asylum permanently they

enjoy certain social and economic rights

Categories of RefugeesDe facto refugees-

Excluded from being ad jure refugees rejected by host country on basis of Convention

Normally victims of armed conflicts, erroneous economic policy and natural disasters

Not protected from non-refoulement

Internally Displaced Persons:People uprooted from their homes

without crossing national frontiers

Categories of RefugeesDenied refugee status protection on the

requirement that an applicant be outside their country of his nationality

Products of revolutions and counter revolutions – guerrilla and government forces

Economic immigrants:Leave country because of poverty and

financial hardship/ seek better life

Do not fit in the definition of refugees

Categories of RefugeesUrban refugees:

Highly educated and qualified persons with valuable talent and skills

Refugees with an urban, non-agricultural and usually educated background who take up residence in the city to live familiar environment

Refugees of a rural agricultural and uneducated background who initially take up residence in a camp but move to the city

Individual and small groups of asylum seekers who arrive independently in the capital cities of low income countries

Categories of RefugeesCriminals:

People who flee from justice and persons who violate the law n their own country and flee from persecution

Do not get refugees status

Environmental Refugees:People who no longer gain a secure

livelihood in their habitat due to drought, famine, desertification, and other environmental problems resulting from pressures of population, and poverty

Conclusion & Discussion

What definition can be said to be ‘ethical’ and inclusive?

Discussion

What definition can be said to be ‘ethical’?

policy makers- approach to protect Definition allow continued dialogue for change of justification in which states can’t avoid accountability for their protection decisionsRefugee law- protect people unable to access national protection but if one can received adequate protection of human dignity

Discussion

What definition can be said to be ‘ethical’?

Conclusion: Agree with Shacknove- it is the absence of state protection which constitutes the full & complete negtaion of society & basis of refugeehoodSupreme court of Canada (1993)-Refugee law back up to the protection one expects from his own state of which he is a national