REFUGEES

REPORTERS:
Aboy, Kevin Albert
Alvaro, Joven Keff
Clamosa, Charisse Ayra
 FLOW OF DISCUSSION
1. INTRODUCTION

 History/ Brief Discussion of the nature and overview of  Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of
Refugees
 Definition of refugees / stateless persons. Difference with asylum seeker, immigrants
 Statistics
 Current issues relating refugees / stateless person
 Brief discussion of the nature and overview of Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees

2. INTERNATIONAL LAWS

3. DOMESTIC LAWS
 History/ Brief Discussion of the nature
and overview of Convention and Protocol
Relating to the Status of Refugees

The UN Refugee Agency: Our Story

THE CORE INSTRUMENTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE LAW:

1.The1951
Convention
2.1967 Protocol
 Accession to the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol
 The 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol are the only global legal
instruments explicitly addressing refugee protection. When a State accedes
to the Convention and/or the Protocol it:
• Acknowledges and strengthens the universality of international refugee
law, by committing itself to treating refugees in accordance with
internationally recognized standards;
• Helps to avoid friction between States – recognizing that granting asylum
is a peaceful, humanitarian and legal act, not a hostile gesture, and should
be understood as such by the refugee’s country of origin; • Underlines its
willingness to cooperate with the international community and UNHCR in
finding solutions to refugee problems;
• Signals the State’s willingness to share responsibilities for protecting
refugees and thereby helps UNHCR to mobilize international support for
the protection of refugees
 REFUGEE ASYLUM-SEEKER MIGRANT STATELESS PERSON
someone who has left his
or her country of origin Definition
general designation for
someone who chooses to
someone who is seeking
move, not because of a
A person who is not
considered as a national
and is unable or unwilling international protection. direct threat to life or by any State, under the
to return there because of In some countries it is a freedom, but in order to operation of its law, either
a serious threat to his or legal term referring to a find work, for education, because he or she never
her life or freedom. The person who has applied family reunion, or other had a nationality or
international legal for refugee status and has personal reasons. Unlike because he or she lost it
definition of the term is not yet received a final refugees, migrants do not without acquiring a new
contained in the 1951 decision on his or her have a fear of persecution one.
Convention. (For more on claim. Not every asylum- or serious harm in their
the refugee definition see seeker will ultimately be home countries. Migrants
Chapter 6.4). Refugees recognized as a refugee. continue to enjoy the
are entitled to protection However, an asylum- protection of their own
from forcible return to seeker should not be sent governments even when
their country of origin back to his or her country abroad and can return
(the principle of non- of origin until the asylum home.
refoulement) and have claim has been examined
other rights and duties in a fair procedure.
that are set out in the
1951 Convention.
 Problems and Issues relating
refugees / stateless person
• Language • Cultural Differences
• Employment • Prejudice and
• Housing Racism
• Access to Services • Isolation
• Weather
 COVID-19 EMERGENCY
RESPONSE

Key Measures Taken of the UN Refugee Agency

• Supporting national authorities in ensuring that prevention, preparedness,
and response are ongoing in all locations.
• Ensuring basic assistance and minimum standards during quarantine for
new asylum-seekers and for refugees who have travelled internally within
host countries.
• Ongoing procurement and distribution of PPE, Health and sanitation
equipment and supplies.
RIGHTS OF THE REFUGEES
UNDER THE CONVENTION
 Under principle of non-
NON-REFOULMENT refoulment, no one should be re-
(Art. 33) turned to a country where they
would face torture, cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment and other
irreparable harm.
 
Related UDHR Provision - Article
5 - No one shall be subjected to
torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or
punishment
 IDENTITY AND TRAVEL
DOCUMENTS (Art. 27)

Having a legal identity enables someone to

hold other rights under law; to have a
nationality and to access basic services
such as health and education, enables
access to humanitarian assistance and
allows them to move freely within the
country of exile.

Related UDHR Provision - Article 6 (Right to

recognition); Art 13 (Right to Freedom of
Movement)
 RIGHT TO FAMILY
The family is universally recognized as the
fundamental group unit of society and as
entitled to protection and assistance from
society and the State. The right to family
unity is inherent in the right to family life.
This right applies to all human beings,
regardless of their status. For refugees and
those who seek to protect them, the right to
family unity implies a right to family
reunification in a country of asylum, because
refugees cannot safely return to their
countries of origin in order to enjoy the right
to family life there

Related UDHR Provision – Article 16 (Right to

marry and found a family)
 ACCESS TO COURTS (ART. 16)

A refugee shall have free access to the courts of law on

the territory of all Contracting States. “Free access” is to
be understood not as meaning that refugees are exempt
from paying the ordinary charges which plaintiffs must
pay in order to initiate legal proceedings, but only that
no additional obstacles should be imposed on refugees.
 
Related UDHR Provision – Article 8 (Right to effective
remedy of competent tribunals); Art. 10 (Right to a fair
and public hearing by an independent and impartial
tribunal)
NON-DISCRIMINATION
The Contracting States shall apply the
provisions of this Convention to refugees
without discrimination as to race,
religion or country of origin.
 
All refugees are in need of refuge but not
all are treated alike.
 
Related UDHR Provision – Art. 2 (Right to
be free from any form of discrimination);
Art. 7 (All are equal before the law and
are entitled without any discrimination
to equal protection of the law)
 FREEDOM OF RELIGION,
OPINION AND EXPRESSION
(ART. 4)
The Contracting States shall accord to
refugees within their territories treatment at
least as favorable as that accorded to their
nationals with respect to freedom to practice
their religion and freedom as regards the
religious education of their children.

Related UDHR Provision – Art. 18 (freedom

of thought, conscience and religion); Art. 19
(freedom of opinion and expression); Art. 20
(freedom of peaceful assembly and
association)
 Rights to gainful employment, self-
employment, and liberal professions (Arts. 17,
18, and 19)
 
All refugees have the right to receive the
most favorable treatment accorded to
nationals of a foreign country in the same
circumstances in the same territory as
regards access to gainful employment, right
for self-employment, and the right to
practice liberal professions.

Related UDHR Provision – Art. 4 (Right to be

free from slavery or servitude); Art. 23 (right
to work, to free choice of employment, to
just and favourable conditions of work and
to protection against unemployment)
 PROPERTY RIGHTS (Art.
13 and 30)
The Contracting States  shall accord to a refugee
treatment as favorable as possible and, in any event,
not less favourable than that accorded to aliens
generally in the same circumstances, as regards the
acquisition of movable and immovable property and
other rights pertaining thereto, and to leases and
other contracts relating to movable and immovable
property.

A Contracting State shall, in conformity with its laws

and regulations, permit refugees to transfer assets
which they have brought into its territory, to another
country where they have been admitted for the
purposes of resettlement

Related UDHR Provision – Art. 17 (right to own

property alone as well as in association with others)
 RIGHT TO INTEGRATION
ASSISTANCE (Art. 34)
Under Article 34 Naturalization, the Contracting States shall
as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and
 
naturalization of refugees. They shall in particular make
every effort to expedite naturalization proceedings and to
reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such
proceedings.

Related UDHR Provision – Art. 6 (the right to recognition

everywhere as a person before the law)
 RIGHT TO PUBLIC
The Contracting States shall accord to
RELIEF AND refugees lawfully staying in their territory
HEALTHCARE (Art. 20 the same treatment with respect to public
and 23) relief and assistance as is accorded to their
nationals.
 
Where a rationing system exists, which
applies to the population at large and
regulates the general distribution of
products in short supply, refugees shall be
accorded the same treatment as nationals.

Related UDHR Provision – Art. 25 (the right

to the health including food, clothing,
housing and medical care and necessary
social services)
 RIGHT AGAINST
EXPULSION (Art. 32)
The Contracting States shall
not expel a refugee lawfully
in their territory save on
grounds of national security
or public order.

Related UDHR Provision –

Art. 15 (Right to belong to a
country); Art 14 (Right to
protection in other countries
from persecution)
RIGHT TO EDUCATION (Art.
22)
The Contracting States shall accord to
refugees the same treatment as is
accorded to nationals with respect to
elementary education.

The Contracting States shall accord to

refugees access to studies, the
recognition of foreign school
certificates, diplomas and degrees, the
remission of fees and charges and the
award of scholarships

Related UDHR Provision – Art. 26 (Right

to education)
 DOMESTIC AND
INTERNATIONAL LAWS
  One of the few countries
PHILIPPINES in the Asia Pacific region
to have acceded to :
a)1951 Convention
(Status of Refugees)
b)1967 Protocol

 First Country to sign the

1954 Convention
(Status of Stateless
Persons)
Department of Justice issued the Department Circular
No. 58 series of 2012
 
 Preservation and promotion of family unity

 Non detention on account being stateless or refugee

 Non-deprivation of refugee r stateless status
 Non-discrimination in the application of the Conventions
 Non-refoulment and
 Non-punishment on account of illegal entry or presence
in the country
National laws – Protection of refugees and
stateless person

 Philippine  
Immigration Act of 1940
 1987 Family Code – Article 21
 Philippine Passport Act of 1996
 Additional protection of refugees,
asylum-seeks and stateless person in
the Philippines:

1) They have access to courts (Entitled to

free legal assistance
2)  
Judicial and administrative citizenship
procedures.
3) Issuance of machine readable
Convention Travel Document
  
Top 3 Nationalities

1) Syrians
2) Pakistanis and
3) Somalis
 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
Common causes that lead to forced displacement
(Recurrent phenomenon in the Philippines)
 Natural Disasters
 
 Armed conflict
 Clan Feuds and
 Some economic development projects
 POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS
National Action Plan to End Statelessness. It included the following action
points (Based On UNHCR’s Global Action Plan to End Statelessness:
1) Resolve existing situations of statelessness;
2) No child is born stateless
3) Remove gender discrimination from nationality laws
4) Grant protection status to stateless migrants and facilitate their
naturalization
5) Ensure birth registration for the prevention of statelessness
6) Accede to the UN Statelessness Conventions and
7) Improve quantitative and qualitative data on stateless population,
 Key Protection issues, Challenges and
Recommendations

Issue 1: Eradication of Statelessness and

universal birth registration
Issue 2: Practice of profession is restricted by
national law
Issue 3: National legislation on IDPs
EXECUTIVE ORDER 554 - CREATING A TASK FORCE ON
INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE ASSISTANCE AND
ADMINISTRATION, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 304 August 31, 1987 -

AUTHORIZING THE TASK FORCE ON REFUGEE ASSISTANCE
AND ADMINISTRATION AND THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN
AFFAIRS TO RESPECTIVELY ISSUE IDENTITY PAPERS AND
TRAVEL DOCUMENTS TO REFUGEES STAYING IN THE
PHILIPPINES AND PRESCRIBING GUIDELINES THEREFOR
 UN Refugee Agency
commends The
Philippines’ efforts to
accelerate naturalization
for refugees and stateless
people
THANK YOU!