UNRIC MAGAZINE June Edition 2009

20 June is World Refugee Day. Confusion often exists about the concept of refugee. What is a refugee? What is the difference between a refugee, an asylum seeker and a migrant? How many refugees are now in the world? Refugee Day is a good opportunity to clarify the definition and to give the lastest figures.

Source: http://www.unhcr.org

REFUGEE
The 1951 Refugee Convention describes refugees as people who are outside their country of nationality or habitual residence, and have a well-founded fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. People fleeing conflicts or generalized violence are also generally considered as refugees, although sometimes under legal mechanisms other than the 1951 Convention.

ASYLUM SEEKER
Someone who has made a claim that he, or she, is a refugee and is waiting for that claim to be accepted or rejected. The term contains no presumption either way - it simply describes the fact that someone has lodged the claim. Some asylum seekers will be judged to be refugees and others will not.

MIGRANT
A wide-ranging term that covers most people who move to a foreign country for a variety of reasons and for a certain length of time (usually a minimum of a year, so as not to include very temporary visitors such as tourists, people on business visits, etc). Different from "immigrant," which means someone who takes up permanent residence in a country other than his or her original homeland.

ECONOMIC MIGRANT
Someone who leaves their country of origin for financial reasons, rather than for refugee ones.

INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON (IDP)
Someone who has been forced to move from his or her home because of conflict, persecution (i.e. refugee-like reasons) or because of a natural disaster or some other unusual circumstance of this type. Unlike refugees, however, IDPs remain inside their own country.

STATELESS PERSON
Someone who is not considered as a national by ANY state (de jure stateless); or possibly someone who does not enjoy fundamental rights enjoyed by other nationals in their home state (de facto stateless). Statelessness can be a personal disaster: some stateless people live in a Kafkaesque netherworld where they do not officially exist and therefore have virtually no rights at all. Unlike the other groups outlined here, they may have never moved away from the place where they were born. But some stateless people are also refugees.

AFRICA
Refugees 2,498,300
Asylum seekers 272,300
IDPs 5,888,800
Returnees 1,971,600
Stateless people 100,100
Others 500

ASIA
Refugees 6,300,800
Asylum seekers 69,300
IDPs 4,285,800
Returnees  814,200
Stateless people 2,193,100
Others 62,400

EUROPE
Refugees 1,569,200
Asylum seekers 243,200
IDPs 565,600
Returnees  14,900
Stateless people 644,100
Others  5,800

LATIN AMERICA
Refugees 530,600
Asylum seekers 41,200
IDPs 3,000,000
Returnees   -
Stateless people -
Others  -

NORTH AMERICA
Refugees 457,000
Asylum seekers 121,400
IDPs -
Returnees  -
Stateless people -
Others -

OCEANIA
Refugees 35,900
Asylum seekers 1,700
IDPs -
Returnees -
Stateless people -
Others -

TOTAL
Refugees 11,390,700
Asylum seekers 740,100
IDPs 13,740,200
Returnees  2,800,700
Stateless people 2,937,300
Others 68,700