UNEVOC Connect

A refugee is an individual who owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.

(Original source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Convention and Protocol relating to the status of refugees, 2010).

Refugee is used to specifically refer to the definition provided in the Geneva Convention of 1951 as migrants without documentation who may not have applied for formal protection, are unable to or are prevented from doing so, or prefer not to (UNHCR, 1951).