Frequently asked questions
Who is a refugee?
A person recognised as a refugee based on the criteria of the Geneva Convention of 1951. A refugee is a person outside the country of his nationality 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 term is often confused with the general term of ‘migrant’.
Are the terms “refugee” and “migrant” interchangeable?
They are not. Although increasingly we frequently see the terms “refugee” and “migrant” interchanged at will in media and public debates, they differ principally from the legal viewpoint. Confusing these two terms can cause problems to refugees and asylum seekers and cause misunderstanding in the debate on asylum and migration matters.
What is special about refugees?
Refugees are a category of persons specifically defined and protected by international law. They are people outside the country of their nationality and, due to fear of persecution, they need “international protection”. Their situation is often so dangerous and unbearable that they cross borders and seek safety in neighbouring countries, thereby becoming internationally recognised “refugees”, and as such they have access to assistance from states, UNHCR and relevant organisations. They are recognised as refugees specifically because returning home is too dangerous for them, and so they need to find refuge elsewhere. They are people for whom denying asylum could have fatal consequences.
What protection do refugees receive under international law?
The specific legal framework protecting refugee rights is referred to as “international refugee protection”. The reason for its existence is that refugees are people in a specific difficult situation that calls for special guarantees. Asylum seekers and refugees cannot avail themselves of their own country’s protection.
As a protective status in the Czech Republic it is provided in the form of asylum or subsidiary protection.
Asylum
Protective stay that a state provides to a third country national or a stateless person in connection with their persecution, usually for political or humanitarian reasons (in the Czech Republic the reasons for granting asylum are specified in the Asylum Act).
Subsidiary protection
Aside from asylum, subsidiary protection is another (lower) form of international protection, which is granted to foreign nationals who do not qualify for asylum if it is found during the international protection procedure that there are well-founded concerns that, should such foreign nationals return to their home state (or, for stateless persons, to the state of their latest permanent residence) they would face a real threat of serious harm. Serious harm is understood to include the imposition or execution of a death sentence, torture or inhumane or humiliating treatment or punishment of international protection seekers, a serious threat to the life or human dignity due to arbitrary violence in the situations of international or internal armed conflicts, and/or the situation where the foreign national’s departure would be contrary to the Czech Republic’s international obligations.
What does the abbreviation UNHCR mean?
It means United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – a specialised international institution as part of the UN that focuses on helping the refugees.
USEFUL LINKS
UNHCR
UNHCR in the Czech Republic
http://www.unhcr-centraleurope.org/cz/
Organizace pro pomoc uprchlíkům (Refugee Help Organisation)
Statistics
Czech Statistical Office – Foreign Nationals
https://www.czso.cz/csu/cizinci/2-cizinci_uvod
Eurostat – the statistical office of the European Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/population-demography-migration-projections/migration-and-citizenship-data
Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic – International Protection
http://www.mvcr.cz/clanek/mezinarodni-ochrana-253352.aspx