Refugee Vs Asylum Seeker Vs Migrant – UPSC Prelims

A refugee is a person who has fled their own country because they are at risk of serious human rights violations and persecution there.

The risks to their safety and life were so great that they felt they had no choice but to leave and seek safety outside their country.

This is because their own government cannot or will not protect them from those dangers.

Refugees have a right to international protection.

An asylum-seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country.

However, he/she hasn’t yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim.

Seeking asylum is a human right.

This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum.

There is no internationally accepted legal definition of a migrant.

Migrants can be understood to be people staying outside their country of origin, who are not asylum-seekers or refugees.

Some migrants leave their country because they want to work, study or join family, for example.

Others feel they must leave because of poverty, political unrest, gang violence, natural disasters or other serious circumstances that exist there.