UNHCR
- INTERNATIONAL
News:
UNHCR thanks India for
taking care of 142 Rohingyas intercepted in Andaman
What's
in the news?
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United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) on December 25 expressed gratitude to Indian authorities at
Andaman and Nicobar Islands for taking care of 142 Rohingya refugees, whose
boat was intercepted by coastal security agencies near Shaheed Dweep a day ago.
UNHCR:
●
The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) was created in 1950
to address the refugee crisis that resulted from World War II.
Headquarter:
Geneva, Switzerland,
Features:
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It is a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly
displaced communities, and stateless people.
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It assists in their voluntary
repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country.
United
Nations Refugee Convention 1951:
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It is a United Nations multilateral treaty
that defines who is a refugee and sets out the rights of individuals who are
granted asylum and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum.
●
It is the main legal document that governs
the working of the UNHCR.
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It is also called the Convention Relating
to the Status of Refugees or the Geneva
Convention of 28 July 1951.
Features:
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It also talks about the responsibilities
and legal obligations of countries that grant asylum status to people.
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Apart from that, the Convention also defines those who are not eligible for asylum status,
such as war criminals.
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It grants certain rights to people fleeing
persecution because of race, religion, nationality, affiliation to a particular
social group, or political opinion.
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It builds on Article 14 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights 1948, which recognizes the right of persons to seek
asylum from persecution in other countries.
Other
Key takeaways:
●
The 1967 Protocol included refugees from
all countries as opposed to the 1951 Convention which only included refugees
from Europe.
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India
is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol.
Definition
of Refugee:
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The Convention defines a refugee as
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.
●
The
Convention is both a status and rights-based instrument and is underpinned by a
number of fundamental principles, most notably non-discrimination,
non-penalization and non-refoulement.
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The Convention stipulates that a refugee
shall not be prosecuted by a country for illegal entry.
●
The Refugee Convention also prescribes
some minimum standards for the treatment of refugees with respect to giving
them rights of access to justice, education, travel, etc.