Asylum seekers and refugees

 ASYLUM SEEKERS

They are aliens who, being outside the country of former habitual residence, are unable or unwilling to return to it owing to the well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. They can apply for asylum by submitting an application for the recognition of “refugee status”. 

 REFUGEES

They are asylum applicants who have been granted the recognition of “refugee status”, following acceptance of their applications.

THE 1951 GENEVA CONVENTION RELATING TO THE STATUS OF REFUGEES

The Convention was adopted on 28th July of 1951 in Geneva; it lays down the conditions for being considered a refugee, the related legal protection forms, other assistance measures, the social rights that a refugee must be granted by the States Parties to this document as well as the obligations imposed by the host countries that the refugee must fulfil.
For the purposes of this Convention, ratified in Italy by Law No. 722 of 24th July 1954, the term “refugee” applies to any person 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 his/her home and is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country, owing to such fear, or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his/her former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or unwilling to return to it, owing to such fear, (Article 1 A).
This Convention has been supplemented by the 1967 New York Protocol which eliminated the time and geographical limits imposed by the original text of the Convention.
The scope of application of the Convention only applies to cases in which individuals are persecuted.

CASES EXCLUDED FROM THE SCOPE OF THE CONVENTION

The Convention shall not apply to individuals who are forced to leave their own country as a result of natural disasters and calamities, violent political upheavals or war crisis. Situations which can be dealt with by adopting other protection measures, e.g. “Temporary protection”, as was the case of the former Yugoslavian, Somali or Albanian citizens hosted by our country.