Refugee
The word refugee derives from the root word refuge, which comes from Old French meaning hiding place. It refers to shelter or protection from danger or distress. The Latin roots include fugere for to flee and refugium for a taking of refuge. In Western history, the term was first applied to French Protestant Huguenots looking for safety against Catholic persecution after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1540. The word appeared in English when French Huguenots fled to Britain in large numbers after the 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau. This revocation followed the 1598 Edict of Nantes and coincided with the 1687 Declaration of Indulgence in England and Scotland. Before 1916, the word meant one seeking asylum. By that year it evolved to mean one fleeing home during World War I. Civilians in Flanders headed west to escape fighting at that time.
The first modern definition of an international refugee status came when the League of Nations established its Commission for Refugees in 1921. Following World War II between 1939 and 1945, the United Nations passed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Article 1.A.2 defines any person owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Such a person must be outside their country of nationality and unable to avail themselves of protection. In 1967 the definition was confirmed by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. People fleeing from war, natural disasters, or poverty are generally not encompassed by the international right of asylum. The Organization of African Unity adopted the Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa in 1969. This expanded the 1951 definition to include persons compelled to leave due to external aggression or events seriously disturbing public order. The 1984 Latin-American Cartagena Declaration on Refugees included threats to life, safety or freedom from generalized violence. By 2011 the UNHCR recognized persons facing serious and indiscriminate threats to life resulting from generalized violence.
After the Soviet armed forces captured eastern Poland from the Germans in 1944, they declared a new frontier at the Curzon Line. About five million German civilians fled the advance of the Red Army from the east during the last months of World War II. These refugees became displaced in Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and Saxony. When the Allies met in Potsdam on the 17th of July 1945, a chaotic refugee situation faced the occupying powers. Article XII ordered that remaining German populations in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary be transferred west. In all fifteen million Germans were affected, and more than two million perished during the expulsions. Between the end of War and the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961, more than 563,700 refugees from East Germany traveled to West Germany for asylum. During the same period, millions of former Russian citizens were forcefully repatriated against their will into the USSR. The forced repatriation operations took place from 1945 to 1947. Over 1.5 million surviving Red Army soldiers imprisoned by the Nazis were sent to the Gulag. About 2,100,000 Poles were expelled west of the new border while about 450,000 Ukrainians were expelled to the east.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on the 14th of December 1950. It protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations. All refugees in the world are under UNHCR mandate except Palestinian refugees who fled between 1947 and 1949. These refugees are assisted by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. UNRWA was created in the aftermath of the war in 1948 which led to displacement of 700,000 Palestinian refugees. This number has gone up to at least five million refugees in the last seventy years. The population continues to grow due to multiple reclassifications of what is considered a refugee. In 1965 UNRWA changed eligibility requirements to include third-generation descendants. By 1982 it extended this to all descendants of Palestine refugee males regardless of citizenship elsewhere. UNRWA focuses mostly on food assistance, health care, education and shelter for Palestinian refugees. The agency has placed over seven hundred schools with over five hundred thousand students and one hundred forty health centers.
The UNHCR ultimate goal is to find one of three durable solutions for refugees: integration, repatriation, resettlement. Local integration aims at providing the refugee with permanent right to stay including naturalized citizenship. In 2014 Tanzania granted citizenship to 162,000 refugees from Burundi. Mexico naturalised six thousand two hundred Guatemalan refugees in 2001. Voluntary return allows refugees to go back home in safety based on free will. One hundred twenty thousand Congolese refugees returned from Republic of Congo to DRC. Thirty thousand Angolans returned home from DRC and Botswana. Afghans returned from Pakistan while Iraqis came back from Syria. Third country resettlement involves assisted transfer to a safe third country that agreed to admit them as refugees. This can be for permanent settlement or limited to certain years. In April 2000 then UN High Commissioner Sadako Ogata stated resettlement could no longer be seen as least-preferred solution. She noted it was often the only solution for many refugees. Two-thirds of all refugees around the world have been displaced for over three years known as protracted displacement. Fifty percent of refugees around ten million people have been displaced for over ten years.
A large percentage of refugees develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder showing anxiety, over-alertness, sleeplessness and motor difficulties. Flashbacks are characteristic where patient experiences traumatic event again and again. PTSD was diagnosed in thirty-four point one percent of Palestinian children most of whom were refugees. Another study showed twenty-eight point three percent of Bosnian refugee women had symptoms of PTSD three or four years after arrival in Sweden. These women also had significantly higher risks of depression and anxiety than Swedish-born women. A study by Boston University School of Medicine demonstrated twenty percent of Sudanese refugee minors living in United States had diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. Refugees are often more susceptible to illness including lack of immunity to local strains of malaria. Refugee camps typically heavily populated with poor sanitary conditions create favorable conditions for disease transmission. Children aged one to fifteen were most susceptible to malaria infection which is significant cause of mortality in children younger than five. Malaria caused sixteen percent of deaths in refugee children younger than five years of age. Access to healthcare services depends on whether refugee has received official status or situated within camp. Barriers include language, cultural preferences, high financial costs and administrative hurdles.
Very rarely have refugees been used and recruited as refugee militants or terrorists. Of the eight hundred thousand refugees vetted through resettlement program in United States between 2001 and 2016 only five were subsequently arrested on terrorism charges. Seventeen of six hundred thousand Iraqis and Syrians who arrived in Germany in 2015 were investigated for terrorism. One study found European jihadists tend to be homegrown with over ninety percent being residents of European country. Sixty percent had European citizenship. Cross-national empirical verification suggests threat of Islamist refugee Trojan Horse is highly exaggerated. A PEW Research Center survey released on the 11th of July 2016 finds majorities ranging from fifty-two percent to seventy-six percent think refugees increase likelihood of terrorism. Eight countries including Hungary Poland Netherlands Germany Italy Sweden Greece UK and France showed these fears. Despite statistics not supporting rhetoric, populist suspicion remains strong. Support from refugee-receiving state has rarely been used to enable refugees to mobilize militarily enabling conflict to spread across borders. Historical evidence shows refugee populations often portrayed as security threat but actual crime rates do not support this narrative.
Common questions
When was the word refugee first applied to French Protestant Huguenots?
The term refugee was first applied to French Protestant Huguenots after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1540. This historical application occurred when these Protestants sought safety against Catholic persecution.
What defines an international refugee under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees?
Article 1.A.2 of the 1951 Convention defines a refugee as any person owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Such a person must be outside their country of nationality and unable to avail themselves of protection.
How many German civilians fled the advance of the Red Army during World War II?
About five million German civilians fled the advance of the Red Army from the east during the last months of World War II. These refugees became displaced in Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and Saxony before more than two million perished during the expulsions.
Which agency assists Palestinian refugees who are excluded from UNHCR mandate?
Palestinian refugees who fled between 1947 and 1949 are assisted by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. UNRWA was created in the aftermath of the war in 1948 which led to displacement of 700,000 Palestinian refugees.
What percentage of Sudanese refugee minors living in the United States had diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder?
A study by Boston University School of Medicine demonstrated twenty percent of Sudanese refugee minors living in United States had diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. This figure highlights the mental health challenges faced by this specific refugee population.