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Refugee Convention and the United Kingdom Essay A person who escapes tyrannical or perilous circumstances is termed as a refugee. Some of the reasons for the creation of refugees are civil disturbances, environmental disasters or war. Around three hundred thousand people obtain this status per month and comprise of women and children in the main. The United Nations requires its member states to protect such people (What are refugees? , 2005). On the 14th of December, 1950, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees of UNHCR was established by the United Nations General Assembly. Its principal objective is to afford protection to refugees and find a viable solution to their problems. Fundamentally, the UNHCR makes strenuous efforts to enable the persecuted of the world to obtain asylum and â€Å"safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. † (Basic Facts). Article 1A(2) of the Refugee Convention states that refugees are individuals who leave their country on account of legitimate danger of persecution due to their political opinions, nationality, race or religion and who are not in a position to obtain the protection of their country (Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Adopted on 28 July 1951 by the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons convened under General Assembly resolution 429 (V) of 14 December 1950). The Member States of the European Union exhibited quite some differences in the interpretation of this definition of refugees. It became mandatory to establish the same guidelines within the Union, in order to implement a common asylum system in the EU. Accordingly, the European Commission made a proposal in the year 2001 to the European Council, whereby the requirements for deeming a person to be a refugee were clearly described and this was in accordance with the UNHCR Refugee Convention of 1951, Article 1 of the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, discussions of the EC with its Member States and specialized institutions dealing with refugees like the European Council on Refugees and Exiles or ECRE and the UNHCR (The European Union clarifies what it means by refugee and subsidiary protection). This proposal comprised of several goals, some of them were to ensue the existence of basic protection, in all the Member States, for persons who required international protection. Initially, the concentration was to be on reducing the differences extant in the legislation and procedures of the various Member States. After this the aim was to restrict subsequent measures adopted by persons who were taking advantage of the variance in the laws relating to the recognition of refugees in the Member States in order to obtain subsidiary protection status. Moreover, it was a major objective of this proposal to assure adequate protection for those whose needs in this regard were genuine. Furthermore, the proposal aimed to ensure that no person could take undue advantage of the process of obtaining asylum (The European Union clarifies what it means by refugee and subsidiary protection). Consequently, in April 2004 Directive 2004/83/EC was adopted and this directive prescribes the requirements for according refugee status to stateless persons or people who do not belong to Member States of the EU. In addition, this directive describes the nature and extent of the protection to be granted to all such eligible persons (The European Union clarifies what it means by refugee and subsidiary protection). The immigration rules in the United Kingdom permit the grant of asylum to a refugee, only if it is possible for that person to establish that they face certain persecution due to their ethnicity, nationality, religion or due to the political opinions that they subscribe to if they return to their country of origin. These rules are in conformity with the United Nations convention relating to the status of refugees and Article 3 of the ECHR or European Convention on Human Rights. The result of these rules is that there is an exclusion of most of the refugees who have been permitted to reside in the UK under exceptional leave (asylum, political, 2005). In the year 1999 seventy one thousand persons sought political asylum in the United Kingdom and most of these persons were Kosovar refugees from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A few of these applicants were from Somalia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq, Albania and China. These numbers increased to a little over a hundred thousand by January 2000 indicating a massive increase in the influx of refugees to the United Kingdom (asylum, political, 2005). The data available with the Home Office has revealed that thirty six percent of those seeking refuge in 1999 were genuine and that an additional eleven percent had been granted asylum on compassionate grounds. However, statistics from other sources have revealed that less than ten percent of persons whose application for refuge had been refused had been deported and that the remainder continued to stay as illegal immigrants (asylum, political, 2005). On the 1st of April, 2000 the United Kingdom enacted legislation, which expeditiously dealt with straightforward cases by adopting fast track processing of their applications, substituted a food voucher system for the extant welfare benefits and made provisions for the forced occupation of accommodation around the UK. These initiatives were successful in reducing the number of pending applications to ninety thousand by May 2000. However, the United Kingdom had to incur an exorbitant expenditure of nine hundred million pounds sterling, in order to support asylum seekers during the financial year 1999 to 2000 (asylum, political, 2005). The UNHCR, which was established in 1951, has provided succour to approximately thirty million refugees. The number of persons whose status has been of grave concern to the UNHCR has increased from seventeen to twenty seven million between 1991 and 1995. These numbers stood at twenty two million at the end of the year 1999 and comprises of eleven million refugees and five million persons who had been displaced within their own countries (asylum, political, 2005). The United Kingdom received three hundred and ninety thousand applications seeking asylum in the year 2000. Out of these ninety seven thousand, seven hundred were granted the status of refugees or provided with exceptional leave to remain in the UK. This amounted to thirty one percent of total asylum applications made all over Europe. Most of the applicants belonged to countries where human rights were being infringed with impunity. Many of these refugees hailed from Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Somalia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. The number of refugees accepted by the UK was less than the number permitted in Belgium and the Netherlands as a ratio to the population, these observations were made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Immigration and emigration, 2005). In order to compensate for the ageing population of the EU, it has to allow an influx of nearly 1. 4 million immigrants per year. The UK Home Office had undertaken reforms to its work permit system so as to allow foreign nationals to apply for such work permits in order to fill in job vacancies. The objective of these new reform proposals is to encourage legitimate immigration and thereby discourage illegal immigration. In October 2001 the Home Office had announced that the present scheme of issuing food vouchers to asylum applicants would be restructured by implementing a combined cash and identity card system (Immigration and emigration, 2005). The Ministerial Meeting on the Refugee Convention held in Geneva, provided an opportunity for the participating nations to adopt new policies to strengthen international refugee protection. Although, more than fifty years had elapsed, since the adoption of new policies in the Refugee Convention, yet nations were lagging behind in addressing the fundamental cause for refugee exodus. The cause for this situation was violation of human rights, especially during internal conflicts in the nations. Many countries were failing in their duty to respect the right to seek asylum from oppression. They were ignoring the non – refoulement principle, which held that refugees should not be deported to a place of conflict where the risk of serious breaches of human rights were prevalent (Refugee Convention a Convention for the 21st century. 2001). It is indeed deplorable to note that several countries had failed to initiate appropriate action against such infringement, as necessitated by the treaty obligations. According to Amnesty International, subsequent to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, national governments should be required to reiterate their commitment to the Refugee Convention (Refugee Convention a Convention for the 21st century. 2001). By instituting stringent security measures, subsequent to the September 11 attacks, many countries ignored the human rights of refugees and asylum applicants. These measures targeted non – citizens of the nations. Specifically, countries with powerful economies have treated refugees and illegal immigrants alike and implemented several measures to isolate refugees. Instances have been reported where nations have unnecessarily indulged in imposing tighter security measures. One instance of this was reported in July 2001 to the Amnesty International, wherein the immigration authorities of the United Kingdom stationed at Prague airport detained travellers from the Roma ethnic minority, questioned them, did not permit them to enter the UK and prevented them from boarding flights (Refugee Convention a Convention for the 21st century. 2001). It has become essential to implement measures that provide adequate protection in situations involving mass flight of the populace of a nation. Moreover, the UN refugee institution has to be provided with sufficient funds to carry out its work. The Amnesty International has demanded of the nations that had participated in the meeting in Geneva to resolve issues involving refugee protection in conformity with the spirit of the Refugee Convention (Refugee Convention a Convention for the 21st century. 2001). In R v. Special Adjudicator, Ullah a Pakistani national claimed asylum in the UK, as he feared persecution on account of his religious beliefs; the UK authorities did not accept his petition under the Refugee Convention. The House of Lords held that in the absence of a flagrant denial or gross abuse of an individual’s rights, there could be no compromise on maintain immigration controls in the larger public interest (R v Special Adjudicator, ex parte Ullah , 2004). Several instances exist, wherein the United Kingdom and its agents were unsuccessful in providing adequate protection to refugees, who had been deployed in special camps. In Kenya, a nineteen year old girl’s modesty was outraged in the vicinity of the offices of the refugee camp authorities and similarly, two Rwandan children were killed and their mother was stabbed in a secure residence. Moreover, a number of incidents involving the gross violations of the right to life, the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and violation of the non refoulement principle were reported in these centres (New Approaches to the Asylum Process. Human Rights Watch Submission to the House of Lords, Select Committee on the European Union, Sub-Committee F (Social Affairs, Education and Home Affairs), 2003). As such the responsibility of protecting refugees is vested with the United Kingdom and the latter has to ensure that such violations do not occur in the refugee centres. In case of failure to protect refugees in the camps, the U. N. General Assembly can authorize the UNHCR to provide sufficient protection to the refugees and help the UK Government to find permanent solutions for the problem of refugees (New Approaches to the Asylum Process. Human Rights Watch Submission to the House of Lords, Select Committee on the European Union, Sub-Committee F (Social Affairs, Education and Home Affairs), 2003). The Chief Executive of the Refugee Council, Nick Hardwick, opined that, the policy being implemented by the UK Government was insufficient, and that it was endangering the lives of a number of asylum seekers. He further stated that the UK’s record of granting asylum status to Sri Lankan Tamils was dismal. France had granted asylum to around seventy three percent of the applicants and Canada had allowed eighty percent, in comparison to the woefully meagre two percent by the UK Government. Many felt that such rejection would pose grave danger for these immigrants, who could expect torture and incarceration in dehumanized prisons in Sri Lanka (New Refugee Council report warns UK not to put refugees lives at risk, 2002). From the above it becomes very clear that the UK has not been very friendly towards immigrants. In particular, after the attacks made by terrorists owing allegiance to Osama bin laden, there has been a reluctance to admit foreign nationals into the country. Several instances have come to light, wherein the UK Government had failed to take into consideration the principle of proportionality, while assessing the status of asylum seekers. There is a marked reluctance to permit persons hailing from Asia, the Middle East and Africa into the United Kingdom. This is in gross violation of the Refugee Convention of 1951. Bibliography asylum, political. (2005).In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas . Basic Facts. (n. d. ). Retrieved May 22, 2007, from UNHCR: http://www. unhcr. org/basics. html Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Adopted on 28 July 1951 by the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons convened under General Assembly resolution 429 (V) of 14 December 1950. (n. d. ). Retrieved May 22, 2007, from Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: http://www. unhchr. ch/html/menu3/b/o_c_ref. htm Immigration and emigration. (2005). Retrieved May 22, 2007, from In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas: http://www. xreferplus. com/entry/6435900immigration and emigration New Approaches to the Asylum Process. Human Rights Watch Submission to the House of Lords, Select Committee on the European Union, Sub-Committee F (Social Affairs, Education and Home Affairs). (2003, September). Retrieved May 22, 2007, from http://hrw. org/backgrounder/eca/asylum-process. htm New Refugee Council report warns UK not to put refugees lives at risk. (2002, February 11). Retrieved May 22, 2007, from Refugee Council Online: http://www. refugeecouncil. org. uk/news/press/2002/february/20020211newr. htm R v Special Adjudicator, ex parte Ullah , UKHL 26 (2004). Refugee Convention a Convention for the 21st century. 2001. M2 Presswire. M2 Communications, Ltd. The European Union clarifies what it means by refugee and subsidiary protection. (n. d. ). Retrieved May 22, 2007, from European Commission. Justice and Home Affairs. Refugee subsidiary protection: http://ec. europa. eu/justice_home/fsj/asylum/subsidiary/fsj_asylum_subsidiary_en. htm What are refugees? (2005). The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia i