Specific Human Rights Issues 389from Eu r ope, to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the Amer i cas. This challenge is
both a human rights issue and humanitarian prob lem: people flee from civil war, geno-
cide, and devastating economic conditions in one state and move to another. It is also
a crisis of asylum, as receiving states adopt increasingly restrictive asylum policies and
have sought to keep refugees in their area of origin.^20
The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as a per-
son who, because of a “well- founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, reli-
gion, nationality, membership of a par tic u lar social group or po liti cal 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.” By convention, it now includes those mov-
ing because of internal conflicts. The international community, namely the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) working with NGOs, is responsible for protect-
ing those people by providing temporary refuge until another state grants them asy-
lum or they can return home. The right of the refugee is non- refoulement: refugees
cannot be forced to return to their country of origin.
The civil wars of the 1990s, ethnic strife in the new millennium, and the repercus-
sions of the Arab Spring mean that the lives of millions of people have been disrupted.
The numbers are overwhelming, almost 60 million, more than at any point since the
end of World War II. One group are the internally displaced people (or IDPs): those
who have been uprooted from their homes but remain in their home country. While
not legally awarded international protection, they represent a humanitarian crisis. They
need shelter, food, medical care, and the state where they are living either is unable to
provide those necessities or is unwilling. They still are technically under their state’s
protection. However, since the mid-1990s, the UNHCR has gradually assumed
responsibility for assisting many of the IDPs, working with humanitarian agencies like
the World Food Programme and UNICEF, and NGOs like the International Com-
mittee of the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders.
Another group are those estimated 19.5 million people who have left their home
country and seek either temporary protection in another country or permanent asy-
lum in another country: the refugees. While international agencies can try and meet
the refugees’ humanitarian needs and provide legal documentation, states themselves
have authority to accept or reject actual refugees or would-be refugees. Only states can
grant permanent residency, permission to work, or citizenship.
In Southeast Asia, it is a crisis brought about by the plight of the Rohinyga people
of Myanmar. And the receiving states— Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia— are all
developing countries with socioeconomic prob lems and scarce resources. (See the
Global Perspectives feature on p. 390–91.)
Nowhere has the refugee/asylum crisis and humanitarian crisis become as vis i ble
as with the ongoing civil war in Syria. As of early 2016, there are over 4 million refu-
gees from Syria and over 7 million IDPs pres ent in Syria itself. The refugees fled to the