Immigrant, Refugee or Asylum Seeker?
For the purpose of this article, first we should try to explain the terms immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker that have lately become an issue of confusion and debate in the media with many arguing about their loose usage. Referring to the current refugee and immigrant crisis in Europe, these terms are often used interchangeably but in reality they have distinct meanings.
So, what is the distinction among these terms?
The broad definition of the term “immigrant” can be comprehended as a person who moves temporarily or permanently to another country other than the one of his/her nationality. Even though the reasons that a person decides to mitigate vary, those who move seeking a better employment or living conditions are generally defined as economic migrants.
However, it is worth noting here that we should not confuse forced immigration with the volunteering one. There is a difference between these two. According to the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM’s) definition, forced immigration is:
“a migratory movement in which an element of coercion exists, including threats to life and livelihood, whether arising from natural or man-made causes (e.g. movements of refugees and internally displaced persons as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine, or development projects)”.
The international law’s definition of the term refugee as provided by the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees also known as 1951 Refugee Convention does not cover events of armed conflicts or environmental/natural disaster.
Under the 1951 Refugee Convention, a “refugee” is defined as a person 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 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 as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it” (Article 1A(2)). Based on this, fleeing war or disaster does not guarantee to a person that he/she will be granted a refugee status by a host country.
In practice though, refugee is considered a person whose asylum application has been successful and has been officially granted the refugee status while an "asylum seeker" is a person who has arrived in a host country and applied for asylum under the 1951 Refugee Convention. However, applying for asylum does not mean that the person is considered immediately a refugee. The host country has a particular process to examine whether an applicant is eligible to become a refugee and often fleeing war, violence or calamity is not an adequate reason.
European Refugee & Immigrant Crisis
Since 2015, the European refugee and immigrant crisis has escalated, with thousands of people traveling either across the Mediterranean Sea or through Southeastern Europe in hope for a better and safer future.
In 2015 more than a million refugees and immigrants arrived in Europe by sea, while since the start of 2016 there were already more than one hundred thousand arrivals, says the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
With the majority of people seeking refuge from war, violence and prosecution and coming mainly from the war torn Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Eritrea, Europe had to take immediate action to respond effectively to the increasing number of arrivals.
“Nearly 85 per cent of all the refugees and asylum seekers who have arrived in Europe landed in Greece since January 2015” as noted by the United Nations (UN).
Struggling to cope with the crisis the EU increased border controls, introduced the Operation Triton by Frontex and took measures against human smuggling and trafficking by also launching the Operation Sophia, officially known as the European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR Med).
But is this enough?
Until now, the EU has failed to respond collectively to the ongoing crisis and thousands have lost their lives trying to find a safe passage to Europe.
Unwilling to share responsibility, many EU member states imposed harsher border restrictions by raising fences and closing their borders with neighboring countries, discriminated refugees and immigrants based solely on their nationality and discouraged their arrival.
“We are coming from the war to another war”
said a Syrian man after clashes surged on the Greece-FYROM border when FYROM decided the closure of its borders leaving thousands destitute and stranded in Greece (Al Jazeera, 2016)
Earlier on March, Turkey signed a deal with the EU that came into effect after 20 of March. Based on this agreement, Greece will send back to Turkey migrants and refugees in exchange for financial aid and “lifting the visa requirements for Turkish citizens at the latest by the end of June 2016” (Press release 144/16, 18/03/2016)
The agreement between Turkey and the EU has raised high human rights and humanitarian concerns and it is against EU and international human rights laws and most importantly against the principle of non refoulement as it is guaranteed in article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
“No Contracting State shall expel or return (‘refouler’) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social or political opinion” (Article 33 (1), 1951 Refugee Convention)
Even though some consider that this ongoing crisis is an outside burden and Europe has its own internal matters to deal with, the truth is that the crisis is now indeed a European matter and each one of us could become an immigrant or a refugee! The EU has to share responsibility, has to offer a safe passage to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers and respect the rights of refugees and immigrants in accordance with its international and European legal obligations.
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