Vluchtelingen

Volgens het Vluchtelingenverdrag is een vluchteling iemand die zijn of haar land van herkomst ontvlucht vanwege gegronde vrees voor vervolging. Redenen voor vervolging kunnen zijn: ras of nationaliteit, godsdienst, politieke overtuiging of het behoren tot een bepaalde sociale groep. Een vluchteling kan in eigen land geen bescherming krijgen van de overheid tegen deze vervolging.

Stedelijke vluchtelingen
Niet alle vluchtelingen leven in vluchtelingenkampen: ruim de helft leeft in stedelijk gebied. Ze zoeken daar bescherming en werk, maar worden vaak uitgebuit of gearresteerd en kunnen niet in hun levensonderhoud voorzien. Hulpverlening is lastig omdat de vluchtelingen vaak niet geregistreerd zijn en in anonimiteit leven.

UNHCR zoekt steeds meer naar nieuwe vormen van samenwerking met gemeenten, lokale maatschappelijke organisaties en andere instanties om gepaste hulp te kunnen bieden aan vluchtelingen die in de stad verblijven.

Iedere vluchteling, zowel in de steden als in vluchtelingenkampen, heeft dezelfde rechten. Landen van opvang hebben de verplichting om mensen die gevlucht zijn te beschermen en hun vluchtelingenstatus te respecteren.

Meer mensen dan ooit zijn gedwongen op de vlucht
Meer mensen dan ooit zijn op zoek naar veiligheid en bescherming. Vaak hebben zij alles moeten achterlaten. Wij helpen hen. Maar dat kunnen wij niet alleen. Help je mee?

Ja, ik help mee

Vluchtelingen

vluchtelingen

Staatlozen

A man collects rubbish at San Pedro de Macoris municipal dump. ; Tens of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent were deprived of their Dominican nationality following a 2013 ruling by the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic. UNHCR has appealed to the Dominican government to ensure that these people are not deported and is committed to working with the Dominican authorities to find a solution for them that guarantees protection of their human rights.

Ontheemden

An Internally Displaced girl pumps water near her family's mud house in Minarets informal settlement in the center of Herat city. Families in this urban settlement fled their homes around the year 2000 for security reasons. ; Families settled in 2000, the provincial governor at the time gave permission to settle here but no formal documents were given. Recently the IDP's have been facing eviction threats.

Vluchtelingen in steden

Thailand/Syrian refugees/ Nader Issa, 41, and his son Ahmed, 3, Palestinian refugees from Syria pose for a portrait at their apartment in Bangkok on 21 April 2015. Nader, 41, is part of three generations of refugees. His parents fled Palestine as children and he grew up in Damascus, Syria. But the 2011 conflict forced them to flee again. His daughter Aya was 10 when she heard her first blast. “I screamed and woke everyone in the building,” she said. “When we were escaping in our neighbour’s taxi, snipers fired at us. We found a bullet hole in the trunk.” They moved from one place to another until it became too dangerous to stay. In 2013 Nader left for Thailand – the only visa he could get from Damascus. Two months later his wife Rana joined him in Bangkok, lugging three young children, two suitcases and a saxophone. Recently accepted for resettlement to a European country, they hope to put their refugee legacy behind them. “Once we get there I want to join a school, learn the language and invite my new friends for my birthday party,” said Aya. /UNHCR/R. Arnold/April 2015

Asielzoekers

Mother with her son and daughter, from Iran seeking asylum in Austria, in a temporary family accommodation at Asfinag. The Asfinag centre is on the former site of a roadworks company, on the outskirts of Salzburg, a short distance from the border with Germany. Refugees and migrants arrive here directly by bus from the Slovenian border, brought by the Austrian authorities, and most will move on to Germany, and are accommodated in heated tents with camp beds and blankets. For those seeking asylum there are more permanent structures, with family groups separated from single males. Food is provided by volunteers three times a day. ; More than 643,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean sea this year, including 502,500 in Greece only. Many of the refugees and migrants are desperate to move quickly onwards to Western Europe, fearing that borders ahead of them will close. Although reception capacities have been stepped up the rising numbers has put the  Austrian reception system under strain. Many newcomers as well as transiting refugees and migrants are temporarily accommodated in sports- and music halls, former office buildings etc., with those wishing to stay waiting sometimes for weeks to get proper accommodation. With the winter approaching, aid has also been stepped up at the borders. At all border crossings where refugees are arriving or leaving – currently from Slovenia to Austria and from Austria to Germany – large heated tents which can hold up to a few thousand persons have been put up and NGOs, volunteers and authorities are providing basic services.

Repatrianten