International Refugee Law : Difference between Refugee and Migrant

The international community is facing a whole lot of problems, be it terrorism, economic depression, border issues or environmental. One of the worrisome cases is the displacement of people from one part of the globe to another part. People move from their native place to some other country for many reasons including better livelihood, better lifestyle, better living condition, feeling of danger, etc.

Generally, we confuse such displaced persons as the same. But it is not the case. People having different reasons for moving from their places and settling in another country are not within the same meaning under International Law. In this post, we will discuss two such classes of persons; Refugees and Migrants.

Migrants:

International Organisation for Migration, the United Nations Migration Agency, defines migrants as any person who is moving or has moved across an international border or within a State away from his/her habitual place of residence, regardless of

(1) the person’s legal status;

(2) whether the movement is voluntary or involuntary;

(3) what the causes for the movement are; or

(4) what the length of the stay is.

IOM mainly deals with migrants and migration‐related issues and, in agreement with related countries, with migrants who are in need of international migration services.

Migration:

Migration is the movement of a person or a group of persons, either across an international border or within a State. It is a population movement, encompassing any kind of movement of people, whatever its length, composition, and causes; it includes migration of refugees, displaced persons, economic migrants, and persons moving for other purposes, including family reunification.

Refugee:

A person who “owing to 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.”

In the case of a person who has more than one nationality, the term “the country of his nationality” shall mean each of the countries of which he is a national, and a person shall not be deemed to be lacking the protection of the country of his nationality if, without any valid reason based on well-founded fear, he has not availed himself of the protection of one of the countries of which he is a national.

Difference between migrant and refugee:

As such, there is no formal legal definition but in international law, a migrant is someone who changes their State of usual residence, irrespective of any reason. A refugee is a person who is outside their country of origin for reasons like feared prosecution, conflict, violence, or other circumstances that seriously disturb public order and requires international protection.