Refugees, IDPs and Returnees: The Terms Explained
Refugee, asylum seeker, internally displaced person, returnee: the words are often used interchangeably, but they mean different things in law and in practice.
News about displacement uses a handful of terms that sound similar but carry different legal meanings. Understanding them makes it much easier to follow reporting on Iraq and the wider region, where several kinds of displacement have overlapped over the past decades. This is a general explainer, not legal advice.
Refugee
Under the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, a refugee is a person who is outside their country of nationality and cannot or will not return because of a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Regional instruments in Africa and Latin America use broader definitions that also include people fleeing generalised violence. A central protection is non-refoulement: refugees must not be returned to a place where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.
Not every country in the Middle East is a party to the 1951 Convention. Iraq and Jordan, for example, are not, and in such countries UNHCR often works under agreements with the government to register and assist refugees.
Asylum seeker
An asylum seeker is someone who has applied for international protection and is waiting for a decision. Every refugee was once an asylum seeker, but not every asylum seeker will be recognised as a refugee. Procedures and waiting times vary widely between countries.
Internally displaced person (IDP)
An internally displaced person has been forced to leave home but has not crossed an international border. Because they remain inside their own country, IDPs are not refugees in law, and their government holds the main responsibility for their protection. The 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, though not a treaty, set out widely used standards for their rights and treatment.
Returnee
A returnee is a former refugee or IDP who has gone back to their place of origin. Return is not always the end of the story: people may find their homes damaged, their documents lost or services unavailable, and some are displaced again.
Durable solutions
Humanitarian agencies speak of three "durable solutions" that end displacement:
- Voluntary return in safety and dignity;
- Local integration in the place where people have found refuge;
- Resettlement to a third country, available only to a small share of refugees worldwide.
Other terms you will meet
Stateless persons are not considered nationals by any state, which can block access to education, work and travel. Migrants is a broad term for people who move, for many reasons, and is not a legal status in itself. Host communities are the local populations living alongside displaced people, whose own needs are an important part of any response. Using these words carefully is a small way of respecting the people they describe.