In his article “Who Is a Refugee?” Andrew E. Shacknove talks about the recent discordance in various conceptions of the refugee status. While arguing that refugeehood is not, in fact, a definition, he provides appropriate examples of such conceptions, namely, the UN Convention and Organization of African Unity (OAU). Shacknove claims that he supports the OAU version where it is stated that to every person who is forced to leave his place of living and seek asylum outside his country due to various disturbing events or aggression, the term “refugee” can be applied.
The author insists that it is very important to have a clear understanding of refugeehood conception meaning and cause because the host states accepting refugees and their citizens are still reluctant in the matters of offering assistance, financial aid, and social support. However, the question of assistance obligations, although crucial, is not within the scope of this article.
Shacknove contends that the most common attributes of a refugee, the persecution and alienage captures in his place of living, are not the key features of refugeehood. He argues that essentially the refugees are individuals who comply with the following characteristics: their basic needs are unprotected by their country, they have no other way than to ask for international restitution of their needs, and whose location allows for such international assistance.
While the catastrophic events may lead to people seeking assistance, a refugee only becomes such, when his sovereign state is unable or unwilling to provide such assistance, at the same time allowing or urging its citizens to seek help abroad. Shacknove emphasizes that refugeehood has no relation to migration or territory, but rather it is a political relationship between the state and the citizen. He draws a conclusion that the refugee status could be granted solely to persons whose government does not protect their basic needs, who have no other way but to seek international restitution of such needs, and whose location makes this international assistance possible.
Bibliography
Shacknove, Andrew E. “Who Is a Refugee?”. Ethics 95, no. 2 (1985): 274-84. Web.