Refugees

Abstract

Throughout history, people in fear of persecution, violence, war, and other serious harm had to abandon their property and livelihoods to relocate to safer places. The most widely used term to refer to such persons is “refugees”. History abounds with stories of forced migration. One key element explaining the changed scope and nature of both conflict and persecution related displacement and at the same time shaping our very understanding of “refugeehood” is the emergence of citizenship as the primary social, economic, and political status marker in the nineteenth century across Western Europe, replacing earlier statuses and affiliations. Since the establishment of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) some 70 years ago, UNHCR has offered protection and assistance to tens of millions of refugees and internally displaced persons, the latter mostly in cooperation with other agencies.