IMMIGRATION
The term immigrant refers to a person who willingly leaves his country to go and live in another Country. Immigrants are not forced out of their country by any external or internal forces but leave their country on their will and desire to go and settle in other countries (Think Progress 4). In some cases, immigrants do not seek permission from the officials of the host country.
On the other hand, a refugee is a person who flees his country due to internal conflicts and goes to seek asylum in another country. The conflicts include political instability, civil wars and attacks from terrorist groups. Therefore, a refugee does not leave his country willingly but he is forced to leave by ugly situations that threaten his life and the lives of his kin. For instance, the refugees fleeing conflicts in Syria seek asylum in Britain, Germany, France and Syrian immediate neighbors such as Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.The problem of refugees seeking asylum in other countries has become a global concern. In response to the refugee problem, the United Nations formed the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The commission documents the problem of people fleeing their home country and provide humanitarian aid to the refugees who are displaced from their home country due to wars.
Also, the Commission works with other regional and global organizations to address the problem of refugees and immigrants. For instance, UNHCR works with the European Union to give humanitarian aid to the Syrians who flee to the countries that belong to the European Union. Moreover, UNHCR works closely with governments that house refugees to provide the refugees with food, shelter and health care. For instance, the Somali refugees who are housed in Dadaab Camp in Kenya get the humanitarian aid from both the Kenyan government and UNHCR. Therefore, the problem of displaced persons is affecting all parts of the world with most cases being witnessed in the Middle East, Africa and a few cases in the United States. However, the problem of displaced persons extends to other regions because the refugees seek asylum in regions such as the United States of America. According to (Zimmermann 25) the 1951 declarations of the United Nations Convention on the status of refugees serves as the legal document that binds nations to accept and house refugees. The convention did document provisions applicable for all countries signatory to the United Nations.
For instance, the convention proposed the provision that the country that accepts refugees shall not encourage discrimination against refugees on the basis of religion, race, country or origin. The provision binds all nations that accept refugees to treat them equally without discriminations. Furthermore, the convention adopted the article that provides that the declarations of the conference shall not be deemed to impair the rights granted to the refugees and the rights to be granted to refugees in the future.Consequently, the United Nations …
