Author(s): INOMA-ABBEY, RITA AKPENYI | Special Edition JUNE 2024
Abstract
Under international law, refugees are persons outside their countries of origin who are inneed of international protection because of a serious threat to their life, physical integrity or freedom in their country of origin as a result of persecution, armed conflict, violence or serious public disorder. For many centuries, refugee movements were a result of religious and racial intolerance. It is obvious that the vulnerabilities that migrants and refugees face run deep. The international community has now recognized that human rights violations are a major cause of mass exoduses. The refugee problem continues to challenge the international community. Refugee-receiving States should maintain their commitment to the protection of refugees and encourage tolerance towards diversity; refugee-producing States should prevent acts that produce mass exoduses of their populations. The world needs to reach an agreement on how best to prevent new flows of refugees. If poverty is the major cause of refugee flows, some solutions could be found in development aid or technical assistance. If human rights violations are the principal causes of mass exoduses, solutions may lie in continuous monitoring by United Nations human rights bodies, condemnation of violations by the international community and the appointment of Special Rapporteurs to study specific situations and to make suggestions. If violent conflicts are the causes of flows, solutions may be found in preventive diplomacy, in the promotion of mediation as the means to conflict resolution and in respect for provisions of humanitarian law.
Keywords: Refugee, vulnerability, humanrights, internationallaw