BACKGROUND
CONFIDENTIAL
INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS FOR THE PROTECTION OF REFUGEES
1.
The principal instruments on which the protection of refugees is based are the Statute of the Office of United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees, established in 1951, and the 1951 United Nations Convention as modified by the 1967 Protocol, relating to the status of refugees, which Britain has ratified. These instruments define the basic rights of refugees, which include safeguards against being returned to a country where a refugee may have reason to fear persecution, known as the principle of 'non-refoulement' or non-rejection at frontiers. This is an essential element of asylum. The Convention also provides for equal treatment in employment, residence, education and freedom of movement in the country of asylum. The UNHCR Statute has the important effect of additionally making possible the conferring of refugee status on persons who find themselves in countries or territories which are not parties to the UN Convention and Protocol, such as Hong Kong (see paras 5 and 6 below).
2.
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The UNHCR's two main functions are to provide refugees with international protection, and to seek permanent solutions to the problems of refugees by mediation, by facilitating voluntary repatriation of refugees, or, where repatriation is not feasible, to assist governments of countries of asylum to make refugees self-supporting as rapidly as possible.
CONFIDENTIAL
/Definition of Refugee