A refugee is an individual who has been forced to flee his or her country because of lack of protection. They have good reason to believe that they are persecuted due to their race, nationality, religion (religious beliefs and actions), political beliefs or membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. 

“Refugee status” is declarative. This means that you are a refugee as soon as you fulfill the criteria set forth in the above definition. Recognition of refugee status does not make you a refugee, it merely recognises (for the hosting state) an already existing situation.

Legal Definition of Refugee 
According to Article 1 A (2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol, the definition of a refugee is reflected in the following paragraph: ‘[an individual that] owing to 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.’

At the international level, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) deals with the legal status of a refugee. This means, if you are a refugee and UNHCR is responsible to process asylum applications (this is called Refugee Status Determination) in the country where you seeked protection, you must satisfy the definition provided above in the 1951 Refugee Convention.

If you are in a country that has a national refugee law and in which a national authority and not UNHCR is dealing with applications of refugees, the legal definition of a refugee might be broader or narrower.

Refugees have three options:
1) Repatriation (being sent back) to the country they fled from
2) Resettlement in a different country
3) Integration into the host country they fled to

If you would like to see an explanation of what the 1951 Convention is and how it helps refugees, please see here.

An asylum seeker is an individual who is formally seeking asylum (through an application or registration at a national authority or UNHCR) in a country that is not their own, exercising the right to be recognized as a refugee and receive legal protection and material assistance. To receive protection, you might fulfill the definition of refugee (see ‘Who is a refugee?’ section), and demonstrate that your fear of persecution in your home country is well-founded. You will be considered  an asylum seeker for the duration of the asylum process, until a decision has been taken by the hosting state or UNHCR. 

Like a refugee, an internally displaced person (IDP) is an individual who has been forced to flee their home or place of residence as a result of threat to their lives and freedoms. Unlike a refugee, however, an IDP has not crossed a state border to seek safety. Due to this difference, an IDP does not fall under the 1951 Refugee Convention’s definition of a refugee, and therefore is not protected under international refugee law. 

During the 1990s, UNHCR began collecting data on IDPs and the need for international standards for protecting IDPs became apparent. Thus, in 1998, the UN adopted the ‘Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement’, which sets 30 principles for the protection of IDPs, outlining their rights and governments’ responsibilities. The Principles define IDPs as:

“Persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.”

Although the Principles do not constitute a legally binding framework, they are widely recognised as a normative and regulatory standard. If you are in need of assistance due to internal displacement, you can find a list of organisations and individuals that provide free legal assistance on our Pro Bono Directory and look for contacts in a specific country. 

If you would like to learn more about internal displacement, you can visit the following websites: Researching Internal Displacement, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, and Global Protection Cluster.

A stateless person is defined by the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless People as “a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”. This means that a stateless person do not have the nationality of any country. This broad definition of statelessness under international law covers a wide range of circumstances, many of which may overlap with the criteria of being considered a refugee. Like refugees with a nationality, you may be a stateless refugee and then being granted a refugee status. 

If you are stateless and need assistance, on this website you will find country-specific information and legal advice from UNHCR.

If you would like to learn more about statelessness, visit our Special Issue on Statelessness.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency responsible for the protection of refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people, and for supporting their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. 

If you are a refugee and you need to contact an office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), please check this page for a list of available countries. A number of UNHCR operations can be contacted through Facebook Messenger. Go to Facebook and type in ‘UNHCR’ and the name of the country you may be assisting a refugee in, for example, type ‘UNHCR Kenya’.