UNHCR marks 60th anniversary of Refugee ­Convention

The Geneva Refugee Convention marked its 60th anniversary yesterday as developing countries keep struggling to host the large majority of the world’s refugees.

The UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees was formally adopted on July 28, 1951 to resolve the refugee problem in Europe after World War II.

The treaty gives a definition of who exactly qualifies as a refugee – a person with a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion – and spells out the rights and obligations of host countries and refugees.

Recent events highlighted the relevance of the Convention, the UN Agency for refugees said, pointing out as an example the fact that more than 170,000 people fled from war-torn Somalia into neighbouring countries since January, citing famine, drought and insecurity as reasons for leaving. Up to one million others have left war-torn Libya.

“We need protection-sensitive borders so those in fear of their lives or freedom continue to find it,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres. “At the same time, we need to find innovative ways to fill the increasingly clear gaps in the international protection system and to promote the values of tolerance and inclusion rather than fear and suspicion.”

In December, the UN refugee agency will convene a ministerial meeting of states parties to the 1951 convention. These states will be able to reaffirm their commitment to the convention as the key instrument of refugee protection and pledge concrete action to resolve refugee and statelessness problems.

To mark the anniversary, the agency has launched the “1” campaign, which aims to humanise an issue often reduced to numbers.