What is a refugee and an asylum seeker?
The word ‘refugee’ has a very precise meaning, as set out in the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to Refugees. In the Convention, a refugee is defined as someone who: • has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion; • is outside the country they belong to or normally reside in, and • is unable or unwilling to return home for fear of persecution. In the UK, whilst someone is waiting for their application to be considered by the Immigration and National Directorate at the Home Office, they are known as an ‘asylum seeker’. Asylum seekers are only awarded refugee status once their application has been successfully granted. Convention on the Rights of the Child and refugee children The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) provides a critical standard against which the treatment of refugee children can be assessed. Article 22 of the CRC grants special protection to refugee chil
