Refugee Convention Essay

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Refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world. When firstly arriving at ones country to seek refuge, refugees could be treated in ways one could not believe. To help prevent this The United Nations (UN) brought in the
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (The Refugee Convention). The Refugee Convention is a multilateral treaty to which 147 countries are signatory too. ‘A refugee, according to the Convention, is someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. ‘

States are responsible for protecting the human rights of their citizens. However when this doesn’t happen usually for political reasons or discrimination – individuals may suffer, causing them to leave their homes seeking refuge. Therefore the purpose of the Refugee Convention is to define who is a refugee, the kind of legal protect, and other assistance and social rights refugees should receive from states that have ratified the convention. The Refugee Convention was established 22nd April 1954 and has to be followed immediately by all 147 countries signatory to the convention. The convention is still being enforced today and ideas are still being discussed on how to improve the Refugee Convention. The convention originally was established to protect European refugees after World War II but after one amendment in the form of a 1967 protocol the convention now accommodates for all refugees worldwide.
The major area of the Refugee Convention is a primary international legal document relating to the protection of Refugees. This defines a particular group of people as “re...

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...60 years old. It was designed for an era we no longer live in, an era where the causes and trajectories of global migration were quite different to today. It was exceedingly successful back in the 1950s to 2000s, but however even though the convention is still being enforced today, the circumstances have changed.The outline of a refugee stated by the convention is one that is designed for the cold war. However nowadays most refugees leave their country of origin due to poverty and insecurity. While the convention is designed to handle those who could not return home for political reasons, our contemporary requirements are very different. This shows that the convention is both a success and failure. It succeed in helping give the refugees their rights but fails in the sense that the Convention was enforced to suit the era 60 years ago, not the era we are facing now.

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