Who is a refugee?

The development of the canon of international law to protect refugees began early in the 20th century under the League of Nations, the predecessor organization of the United Nations. On July 28, 1951, a UN conference concluded the “Agreement on the Legal Status of Refugees.” The conventions defined the status of refugees, their legal protection and their social rights. The convention defines refugees as people who are persecuted because of their race, their ethnicity or religion in their homeland or had to leave their homeland due to the social, economic or political conditions or (civil) war there.