In many countries around the world, a refugee is a person who has become displaced due to war or violence and who cannot return to his or her homeland. A refugee is granted refugee status in the country that they fled to, and may be eligible for protection in that country; however, they cannot be granted sanctuary if they have another country’s citizenship.
Although no one wants to speak about it, most of the world views the refugees as dangerous. The United States has stated that they consider all the individuals who have become homeless, persecuted, or displaced as part of the tragedy of the 21st century. It is not uncommon to find that there is a well founded fear of being a victim of persecution.
A refugee can be from any country of the world. When an asylum seeker applies for refugee status in the United States, he must state that he or she has undergone torture, which is defined as physical or mental torture, sexual slavery, enforced disappearances, or other forms of violations of human rights guaranteed in the United States Constitution and other international laws. This means that if a person has endured a dangerous and life-threatening situation, he or she may be eligible for refugee status. As of June 2020, there are 1.25 million people who have applied for refugee status in the United States.
If you want to know what a refugee is, one of the first things that you should know is what the word means. The word is derived from the Arabic term raj, which means “displaced person.” Another interpretation is “being displaced for reasons of conflict or natural disasters.” The people who the United States refers to as refugees are the people fleeing civil war, violence, and other humanitarian situations. For example, if a country is experiencing conflict with its neighbor, there are generally thousands of children who become homeless and look for safe refuge in neighboring countries, like the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Tanzania.
There is no legal definition of what a refugee is, so the question remains, does anyone else need to be protected from being a victim of human rights abuses? It would seem so. There are times when a person may legitimately become a victim of persecution and that qualifies him or her as a legitimate candidate for refugee status. There is also the well-founded fear test, which is used to determine if a person has a genuine fear of persecution based on factors like race, religion, nationality, membership in a specific social group, or political opinion.
In order to qualify as a candidate for refugee status, an applicant must be able to point to a specific security threat, such as violence in their home country, or they must be able to point to a particular harm they are facing in their own country due to that security threat. These can include being tortured or sexually assaulted. While the United States agrees that people should have a right to seek asylum, and that the international community should do its part to prevent torture and other serious human rights abuses, the US does not support a blanket ban on all individuals traveling to other countries that may be subject to persecution.