Refugee

:This article is for the group of people as defined by international law. For the description of "refugee" as casually used for any person who has been forced to leave their home, see displaced person.

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A refugee is a person seeking asylum in a foreign country in order to escape persecution. Some regional legal instruments further include those seeking to escape generalized violence in the definition of a refugee. Those who seek refugee status are sometimes known as asylum seekers and the practice of accepting such refugees is that of offering political asylum. The most common asylum claims to industrialized countries are based upon political and religious grounds.

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Under the 1951 Convention on Refugees and 1967 Protocol, a nation must grant asylum to refugees and cannot forcibly return a refugee to their nation of origin. However, many nations routinely ignore this treaty. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is dedicated to protecting the rights and wellbeing of refugees. As of 31 December 2004, the agency reported a total of 9,236,500 official refugees (excluding an additional 4 million Palestinian refugees) http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/events/opendoc.pdf?tbl=STATISTICS&id=42b283744.

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Globally, about 16 countries (Australia, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/protect?id=3bb2eadd6) regularly accept quota refugees from places such as refugee camps. Usually these are people who have escaped war. In recent years, most quota refugees have come from Iran and Iraq, which have been in various wars and revolutions, and the former Yugoslavia, due to the Yugoslav wars.

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Persecution: Persecution is persistent mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution and ethnic persecution. The terms have some overlap, as religion is an aspect of culture that can be a barrier....

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Refugee related Images and Photos (experimental)

WWI Mother Refugee and Her Children with Their Meagre Possessions	Children Play in the North Darfur Refugee Camp of El Sallam on Wednesday October 4 2006	A Somali Child Covers Her Face at Dadaab Refugee Camp in Northern Kenya Monday August 7 2006	A Girl Washes Plates for Her Family in the North Darfur Refugee Camp of El Sallam October 4 2006
A Sudanese Woman Buys a Dress for Her Daughter at the Zamzam Refugee Camp