Refugee

Abstract

The word "refugee" designates, in International Law, a person who is outside their country of origin and who cannot return to it due to a well-founded fear of suffering certain treatments contrary to the international protection of Human Rights. Since 1951, the Geneva Convention establishes a refugee’s definition in general International Law, and also a legal status for people whose situation fits the definition. The non-refoulement rule stands out in this status. In some regional systems they have been adopted legal texts with different degrees of relevance and binding nature that extend the concept of "refugee" enshrined in the universal definition. In the European Union, also the creation of a Common European Asylum System has allowed the harmonization of the interpretation that the authorities of the member states should make of the undefined legal concepts of the definition of "refugee". This system establishes as well a statute of substantive and procedural rights that incorporates the standard of protection set by the European Court of Human Rights on the limits to the return of foreigners.