One in every 160 people in the world has been uprooted by war, persecution or famine. 42 million refugees…and each one has a name.

The plight of refugees is not new. As long as man has inhabited the earth there have been people forced to flee their homelands and travel great distances to find safety and refuge. These are refugees.

What is a refugee?
The 1951 UN Convention on Refugees states that a refugee is a person who is “outside their own country and cannot return due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Because of conditions in their home country and their fear of persecution, they are unwilling or unable to return.”

What is an asylum seeker?
This is a term used to cover all people who apply for protection or refugee status. The UN Convention specifically recognises that a refugee may sometimes have to enter a country against the provisions of national immigration laws.  ’An asylum seeker is an individual who is seeking international protection.  In countries with individualized procedures, an asylum seeker is someone whose claim has not yet been finally decided on by the country in which he or she submitted it.  Not every asylum seeker will ultimately be recognised as a refugee, but every refugee is initially an asylum seeker.’

How big is the need?
At the end of 2008 there were an estimated 42 million forcibly displaced people in the world. This is roughly double the population of Australia at the same time. This is the largest category of vulnerable people in the world. About one third of them are officially recognized refugees because they have crossed an international border. The other two thirds are so-called internally displaced persons, or IDPs, because they are still within their own country.

Refugees in Australia
Over the past 10 years Australia has averaged the resettlement of 12,249 refugees per year.  These numbers comprise of people from countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Burma, DRC, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the former Yugoslavia.

Compared to other nations, Australia accepts a small percentage of refugees for resettlement.

For more information on worldwide facts and figures, check out: http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c4d6.html

For more information on Australian facts and figures go to www.immi.gov.au

(All figures sourced from UNHCR and DIAC – see above links)