"Our proper attitude to refugees can only be developed when we imagine for ourselves what it would be like to run from state terror, torture, rape, the destruction of our homes and families to a place that welcomed us and tried to heal our wounds. It's a place we might all need one day. Let us be people who can provide it."
– Emma Thompson

1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 1 A (2)

The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as someone 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 is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”

948 Universal declaration of Human Rights, Article 14 (1)

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that: “everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”

Other links

For more information on the global refugee situation, visit these websites:

UNHCR website: www.unhcr.ch

US Committee for Refugees and Migrants: www.refugees.org

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