World Refugee Day 2021

World refugee day 2021

Every minute 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. 

World Refugee Day 2021 focuses on the power of inclusion. 

COVID-19 has showed us that we only succeed if we stand together. We have all had to do our part to keep each other safe and despite the challenges, refugees and displaced people have stepped up. 

Given the chance, refugees will continue to contribute to a stronger, safer and more vibrant world. Therefore UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s World Refugee Day campaign this year is calling for the greater inclusion of refugees in health systems, schools and sport. Only by working together can we recover from the pandemic. 

There are several types of forcibly displaced persons: 

  • Refugees – A refugee is someone who fled his or her home and country owing to “a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion”, according to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. Many refugees are in exile to escape the effects of natural or human-made disasters. 
  • Asylum Seekers – Asylum seekers say they are refugees and have fled their homes as refugees do, but their claim to refugee status is not yet definitively evaluated in the country to which they fled. 
  • Internally Displaced Persons – Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are people who have not crossed an international border but have moved to a different region than the one they call home within their own country. 
  • Stateless Persons – Stateless persons do not have a recognized nationality and do not belong to any country. Statelessness situations are usually caused by discrimination against certain groups. Their lack of identification — a citizenship certificate — can exclude them from access to important government services, including health care, education or employment. 
  • Returnees – Returnees are former refugees who return to their own countries or regions of origin after time in exile. Returnees need continuous support and reintegration assistance to ensure that they can rebuild their lives at home. 

Refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol help protect them. They are the only global legal instruments explicitly covering the most important aspects of a refugee’s life. According to their provisions, refugees deserve, as a minimum, the same standards of treatment enjoyed by other foreign nationals in a given country and, in many cases, the same treatment as nationals. 

The 1951 Convention contains a number of rights and also highlights the obligations of refugees towards their host country. The cornerstone of the 1951 Convention is the principle of non-refoulement. According to this principle, a refugee should not be returned to a country where he or she faces serious threats to his or her life or freedom. This protection may not be claimed by refugees who are reasonably regarded as a danger to the security of the country, or having been convicted of a particularly serious crime, are considered a danger to the community. 

 The rights contained in the 1951 Convention include: 

  • The right not to be expelled, except under certain, strictly defined conditions; 
  • The right not to be punished for illegal entry into the territory of a contracting State; 
  • The right to work; 
  • The right to housing; 
  • The right to education; 
  • The right to public relief and assistance; 
  • The right to freedom of religion; 
  • The right to access the courts; 
  • The right to freedom of movement within the territory; 
  • The right to be issued identity and travel documents. 

Some basic rights, including the right to be protected from refoulement, apply to all refugees. A refugee becomes entitled to other rights the longer they remain in the host country, which is based on the recognition that the longer they remain as refugees, the more rights they need.

Prime Production provides translation, interpreting and desk-top publishing services for UN agencies, international organisations and NGOs for more than 10 years. Prime is proud to support organisations in delivering the message of gender equality and global sustainable development. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *