What is a Refugee Camp? Definition and Statistics | USA for UNHCR (2024)

FAQs

What is a Refugee Camp? Definition and Statistics | USA for UNHCR? ›

Refugee Camps. Temporary facilities built to provide immediate protection and assistance to people forced to flee. Once a person becomes a refugee, they are likely to remain displaced for many years.

A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced people.

A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee conflict or persecution and has crossed an international border to seek safety. They cannot return to their country without risking their life or freedoms. It is a legal term that carries with it certain protections that refugees are entitled to.

Under United States law, a refugee is someone who: Is located outside of the United States. Is of special humanitarian concern to the United States. Demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

The 1951 Refugee Convention is a key legal document and defines a refugee as: “someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”

Refugee camps are temporary facilities built to provide immediate protection and assistance to people who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution or violence.

A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

Anyone can apply for asylum. Normally, however, it is a person who considers themselves at risk of serious harm in their country of origin, or who is compelled to leave their country in search of safety in another country.

UNHCR defines resettlement as the selection and transfer of refugees from a State in which they have sought protection to a third State that has agreed to admit them – as refugees – with permanent residence status.

Typically, to apply, you must first register with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the country to which you have fled. UNHCR will determine if you qualify for refugee status. Learn more about the process of seeking refugee status, including: Coming to the U.S.

What is the difference between asylum and refugee in the US? ›

Similar to a refugee, an asylum seeker is someone who may be in search of protection due to dangers in his or her home country. While every refugee is initially an asylum seeker, not every asylum seeker will ultimately be recognized as a refugee.

UNHCR determines if an individual meets the international definition of a refugee and, if so, identifies whether permanent resettlement in a third country is the best solution for registered refugees based on unique vulnerabilities.

Refugee definitions: Migrants | Asylum seekers | Internationally displaced persons | Stateless persons.

UNHCR is primarily mandated to provide international protection and humanitarian assistance, and to seek permanent solutions for persons within its core mandate responsibilities.

Definitions of refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention and of Palestine refugees per the UN General Assembly are complementary.

Refugee camps are temporary facilities built to provide immediate assistance and protection to people who have been forced to flee their homes due to violence, conflict or persecution.

Refugee camps are temporary settlements created to provide refugees with immediate aid and protection. Forced from home, refugees are often left with little to call their own. Lacking food, clean water, clothing and proper hygiene supplies, refugee children and their families are vulnerable to disease, abuse and worse.

Depends on the refugee camp, but in general they are overcrowded, undersupplied, lack proper infrastructure, therefore mainly they just "keep alive" and kill time in non productive fashion, they do not have many alternatives, if any at all.

Refugees often stay in refugee camps, which provide a haven from the violence or disaster they were facing at home; however, the conditions in these camps are far from comfortably livable. Life as a refugee often includes overcrowding, a lack of food and water and a lack of sanitary methods of eliminating human waste.