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DEFENDERS
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country over the recent years, in view
of the numerous security and economic
problems in Afghanistan, once again
returned to Iran either with passports
and legally or illegally.
Currently according to the latest
official figures in 2015, approximately
979,410 Afghan and 28,268 Iraqi
refugees are living in Iran, 97 percent
of them in urban and or suburban and
rural areas, and 3 percent in 11 camps.
This is while according to unofficial
figures approximately 2 million
Afghan refugees live in Iran, legally or
illegally.
Glossary
Refugee status: this is given to
individuals (from other countries) that
include the definitions and frameworks
stated in article 1(a) of the 1951 Geneva
Convention, and 2(a) of the Refugees
Situation and its additional 1967
protocol.
The decision to accept the individual
as a refugee is done by a government
body that has specific responsibilities
in the governing party, according to the
relevant Convention and Protocol.
Asylum Seeker: a person who, from
fear of persecution for reasons of race,
religioon, social group, or political
opinion, has crossed an international
frontier into a country in which he or
she hopes to be granted refugee status.
The term asylum-seeker and refugee
are often confused. An asylum-seeker
is someone who says he or she is a
refugee, but whose claim has not yet
been definitively evaluated. On average,
about 1 million people seek asylum on
an individual basis every year. In mid
2014, there were more than 1.2 million
asylum-seekers.
Refugee: The correct definition of a
'refugee' is a person who is outside the
country of nationality, and is unable to
or unwilling to avail him/herself of the
protection of that country due to a well
founded feat of being persecuted for
reasons of race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular social group
or political opinion.
Immigrant: One who legally comes
into a new country and settles, as
opposed to an "illegal alien", who either
sneaks into a new country, or enters
legally, then overstays his allowed time
as a visitor. There is no such thing as
an "illegal immigrant" since the word
"immigrant" implies legally.
Convention Relating to the Status
of Refugees: The Convention was
approved at a special United Nations
conference on 28 July 1951. Denmark
was the first state to ratify the treaty on
4 December 1952, which entered into
force on 22 April 1954. It was initially
limited to protecting European refugees
from before 1 January 1951 (after World
War II), though states could make a
declaration that the provisions would
apply to refugees from other places.
The 1967 Protocol removed the time
limits and applied to refugees "without
any geographic limitation", but
declarations previously made by parties
to the Convention on geographic scope
were grandfathered. (Although, like
many international treaties, the Refugee
Convention was agreed in Geneva, it is
incorrect to refer to it as "the Geneva
Convention," because there are four
treaties regulating armed conflict known
as the Geneva Conventions.)
As of July 2013, there were 145
parties to the Convention, and 146 to the
Protocol. Most recently, the President
of Nauru, Marcus Stephen, signed both
the Convention and the Protocol on 17
June 2011 and acceded on 28 June 2011.
Madagascar and Saint Kitts and Nevis