Migrant or Refugee? There Is a Difference, With Legal Implications

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

THE NEW YORK TIMES - AUG. 27, 2015

In the first half of this year alone, at least 137,000 men, women and children crossed the Mediterranean Sea to reach the shores of Europe, according to the United Nations. Thousands are traveling across the Balkans now.

Q. Does it matter what you call them?

A. Yes. The terms “migrant” and “refugee” are sometimes used interchangeably, but there is a crucial legal difference between the two.

Q. Who is a refugee?

A. Briefly, a refugee is person who has fled his or her country to escape war or persecution, and can prove it.

The 1951 Refugee Convention, negotiated after World War II, defines a refugee 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 to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

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