Home > yourrights > rights of immigrants/refugees > refugees/Legal Framework of the Convention > Legal Framework of the Convention
> Legal Framework of the Refugee Convention
Legal Framework of the Refugee Convention
Article 1(A)(2) of the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as a 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 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, unwilling to return to it."
The definition consists of the following parts:
The EC Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted, usually referred to as the Qualification Directive, provides a set of definitions.
The Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status, published by UNHCR in 1978 in Geneva is an important practitioners’ text providing definitions and setting out the original intentions of the makers of the Refugee Conventions.
The Preamble to the Convention is a reminder that the Convention is related to other international legal materials such as other human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.
Judicial decisions from the Asylum and Immigration Tribuna, the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords provide additional guidance. Also, because the Refugee Convention is an international instrument, it is possible to refer to the decisions of higher courts of Canada , USA , New Zealand and Australia .
"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 is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it."
The definition consists of the following parts:
- possession of a well-founded fear
- of treatment that amounts to being persecuted
- for one of five reasons, referred to as the Convention reasons
- being outside one's country
- being unable or unwilling to obtain protection from one's home country against one's difficulties.
The EC Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted, usually referred to as the Qualification Directive, provides a set of definitions.
The Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status, published by UNHCR in 1978 in Geneva is an important practitioners’ text providing definitions and setting out the original intentions of the makers of the Refugee Conventions.
The Preamble to the Convention is a reminder that the Convention is related to other international legal materials such as other human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.
Judicial decisions from the Asylum and Immigration Tribuna, the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords provide additional guidance. Also, because the Refugee Convention is an international instrument, it is possible to refer to the decisions of higher courts of Canada , USA , New Zealand and Australia .
