A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

I. International Refugee Protection
The protection of the world’s estimated 14 million refugees 1 is governed by an international
system which emerged following the Second World War. 2 The Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees (1951 Refugee Convention), adopted in 1951 and amended by the 1967 Protocol to the
Convention, continues to control today, with 144 states party to the Convention and the Protocol. 3
The 1951 Refugee Convention defines who is a “refugee” under international law and sets forth the
comprehensive set of protections to which refugees are entitled. Despite this international standard,
the protection of refugees varies substantially around the world, as States Parties to the convention
have implemented domestic procedures for refugee processing and as regional instruments have
expanded the protection framework. And while the 1951 Refugee Convention can be recognized
as “saving countless lives and ensuring a means of escape for people facing imprisonment, torture,
execution and other human rights abuses for reasons such as their political or religious beliefs, or
membership in a particular ethnic or social group,” 4 the system has also come under criticism both
for failing to adequately address economic migrants and for serving as a “back door” to migration
from poor to rich countries. 5
a. Well-Founded Fear of Persecution: The Refugee Definition
The 1951 Refugee Convention defines as a refugee any 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 unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of
that country.” 6
Certain persons are excluded by the 1951 Refugee Convention from refugee protection. Those
who have committed a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity; those who
have committed a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge; or those guilty of
acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations are excluded from the refugee
definition and its attendant protections. 7
Refugee status and the protection accorded to refugees may cease under certain conditions. The
Refugee Convention provides for cessation of refugee status when a refugee voluntarily re-avails
himself of the protection of the country of nationality; when the refugee, having lost his nationality,
voluntarily re-acquires it; when the refugee acquires a new nationality and enjoys the protection of
the country of new nationality; or when an individual “can no longer, because the circumstances in
connection with which he has been recognized as a refugee have ceased to exist, continue to refuse
to avail himself of the protection of the country of his nationality,” unless that person “is able to
invoke compelling reasons arising out of previous persecution for refusing to avail himself of the
protection of the country of nationality.” 8
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Appendix C