Why study forced migration?
The term ‘refugee’ means many things to different people. Even its formal distinction, as defined by the 1951 Geneva Convention, is regularly challenged and under perennial review by academics, governments and humanitarian agencies. According to the Convention a refugee is someone who, ‘owing to a 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 to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country’. At the beginning of the 21st century, nearly 60 years after this definition was enshrined in international law, there are many other forcibly displaced people around the world who do not easily fit within the formal category. They and their rights are in urgent need of protection. We live in a rapidly changing world in which human migration has a significant impact on the economic, political and social a
