we are

refugees

The Syrian refugee situation, has become one of the

in the last decade.biggest humanitarian crisis’

Syrians have fled their homes since the

2011.

An estimated 9 million

outbreak of civil war in March

we watch on tv

we read in the news…

But do we understand who and what a refugee is?

But do we understandrefugees are?whatand

who

expect refugees to look like this…Many

And get when we see images like this.

baffled

It’s easy to view images and getconfused.

So who as refugees?qualifies

A person who owing to a 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…

A refugee is:

”-1951 United Nations Refugee Convention

”

war criminals.

guilty of committing serious non-political crimes.

guilty of acts contrary to the purpose and principles of the united nations.

refugees cannot be:

1951 united nations refugee convention (aka the “geneva convention”).

This is the definition agreed upon at the

This decree was enacted

when hundreds of thousands of war refugees were displaced from all across Europe.

World War II,after

In 1967, the treaty was amended to include refugees from around the world.

Over the past several decades,

142 stateshave signed on to both the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 protocol.

The Geneva Convention treaty also defines who isNOT a refugee.

An internally displaced personAn IDP is a person who has been forced to flee his or her home for the same reason as a refugee, but remains in his or her own country and has not crossed an international border.”

- UNHCR

A refugee is not:

”

Refugees are protected by international law and eligible to receive aid.

An internationally displaced person is not.

An asylum seekerA stateless person is someone

who is not a citizen of any country.

A refugee is not:

Asylum seekers are first evaluated in order to

obtain refugee status.

they can be sent back to their

home countries.

If an asylum seeker is judged to not be in need

of international protection,

A forced migrant

A refugee is not:

A person leaving not due to persecution, but because of natural disasters (drought, floods, earthquakes…)

A person leaving their country due to economic reasons. Even

when leaving extreme poverty.

A refugee is not:

An economic migrant

but why does the definition of a refugee

matter?

Because, as a refugee you are

given certain rights:

“non-refoulment”refugees cannot be forced to return to his or her home country.

refugee rights:

illegally enteringcountries that are

signed to the treaty.

refugee rights:

the right to not be punished for

the right to housing.

refugee rights:

refugee rights:

the right to work.

refugee rights:

access to an education.

access to public assistance.

refugee rights:

freedom of movementwithin the territory.

refugee rights:

The right to obtain identification and travel documents.

refugee rights:

A refugee becomes entitled to other rights the longer they remain

in the host country.

refugees?so who are these

menare refugees.

refugees are women.

womenare refugees.

childrenare refugees.

a refugeeis not definedby appearance.

they are not defined by race.

what they are fleeing.

they are defined by

accepting refugeesfor countries

the fear is that with the refugees…

will follow.violence

Those tasked with approving or rejecting asylum seekers,

the job is even more difficult.

Screening is

imperfect.

Honesty is not guaranteed.

Making it difficult to judgewho we can trust.

for us living with thesafety these refugees seek,…

will ourmoral obligation

to help fellow humans…

prevail over our

fears?