Refugee Rights
Refugee International AID
Introduction to Refugee Rights
Until the early 20th century, refugees, who depended for survival on aid from private groups, lacked both legal rights and protection. Since the end of World War I, various international organizations have been created to protect and assist refugees. Most were founded to serve specific groups in certain geographic areas for a specific time. Currently, legal protection and material assistance are provided to refugees by the United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR. Established in 1951 to resettle the refugees still remaining in European post-World War II displaced persons’ camps, UNHCR succeeded the International Refugee Organization. This agency, in turn, had succeeded the Office of the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the first such international agency, founded in 1921.
Operating at the request of its 120 member countries is the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration, founded in 1951. Its major function is to oversee the movement of refugees to host countries; it also works to assist the economic and social development of emerging nations. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is responsible for refugees who fled Israel in 1948 and who, with their descendants, have not been absorbed by neighboring Arab states.
The international government refugee agencies work closely with other national and international agencies. Foremost among these agencies are the International Rescue Committee, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Council of Voluntary Agencies, and the U.S. Committee on Refugees.
The legal status of refugees is defined by two United Nations documents: the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. These documents specify the rights and duties of refugees, including the right to work, to public assistance, to elementary education, to access to courts of law, and to social security.
The definition of refugees was extended by two regional organizations. The Organization of African Unity (see African Union) extended the UN definition of refugee in 1969 to include every person compelled to leave his or her place of habitual residence and seek refuge in another country owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination, or events seriously disturbing the public order. A group of Central American states adopted the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees in 1984. It includes as refugees people who have fled their country because their lives, safety, or freedom were threatened by generalized violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive violation of human rights, or other circumstances that have seriously disturbed public order.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Refugee Rights in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
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