Is there a difference and does it matter?
Yes. Yes it does.
More and more, we're seeing the words 'refugee' and 'migrant' being used interchangeably in media and public discourse…
At UNHCR, we say 'refugees' when we mean people fleeing war or persecution across an international border - people who had no choice but to run for their lives and still cannot return home. And we say 'migrants' when we mean people who chose to move to improve their lives for work, education, family reunification or even hunger.
A migrant could choose to return home, and they'd still have a government to protect them. A refugee does not have that choice: they cannot return home and they need sanctuary elsewhere
The bottom line is that we are all human. We need to treat all human beings with respect and dignity. We need to ensure that the human rights of migrants are respected. But at the same time, we need to ensure that the 60 million refugees who have been forcibly displaced can live in safety and in dignity until it is safe for them to return home.
We hope that others will give thought to doing the same. Choices about words do matter.
Our position: http://trib.al/PnoemNy
Yes. Yes it does.
More and more, we're seeing the words 'refugee' and 'migrant' being used interchangeably in media and public discourse…
At UNHCR, we say 'refugees' when we mean people fleeing war or persecution across an international border - people who had no choice but to run for their lives and still cannot return home. And we say 'migrants' when we mean people who chose to move to improve their lives for work, education, family reunification or even hunger.
A migrant could choose to return home, and they'd still have a government to protect them. A refugee does not have that choice: they cannot return home and they need sanctuary elsewhere
The bottom line is that we are all human. We need to treat all human beings with respect and dignity. We need to ensure that the human rights of migrants are respected. But at the same time, we need to ensure that the 60 million refugees who have been forcibly displaced can live in safety and in dignity until it is safe for them to return home.
We hope that others will give thought to doing the same. Choices about words do matter.
Our position: http://trib.al/PnoemNy
