A Series: Understanding the Global Framework on Refugees’ Rights
By Stanley Nwankwo
Following the renewed protests across the United Kingdom against recent policies on refugees and asylum seekers in the country, and within the Forth Valley region in particular, Forth Valley Welcome are putting together a series of articles with the intent to create awareness on refugees’ rights.
For the purpose of this article, refugees’ rights can be summed up as a standard global expectations that is placed on host nations/countries in relations to how they handle forcibly displaced individuals who have come to seek for protection in their territories.
Relying on a more formal note, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as the UN Refugee Agency has opined as its core vision – a world where every person forced to flee can build a better future; emphasizing the institution’s unrelenting resolve to save and protect the rights of people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of conflict and persecution.
Charged with building a better future for refugees, the UNHCR envisages that long lasting solutions to the challenges of refugees may include – resettlement and integration in a third country, support to voluntary and safe return to their home country if it is safe to do so, and local integration into host country.
The UNHCR as the most prominent international organization on refugees in the international community has undertaken to save and protect the rights of people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of conflict and persecution.
Historical background – Global Regime on Refugees’ Rights:
World War II had brought in its wake widespread displacement of people across Europe. The need to safeguard these people fleeing from persecution culminated into the emergence of the United Nations Convention 1951, Relating to the Status of Refugees.
This United Nations instrument derived its normative foundation from Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, which recognizes the right of persons to seek asylum from persecution in other countries.
“Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”
Therefore, by way of consolidating other previously existing instruments relating to refugees, the United Nations Convention 1951, defines a refugee as:
“Someone who is owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”
Since the inception of the United Nations Convention 1951, international laws relating to the status of refugees have been strengthened by some regional frameworks that rely on the improvement of international human rights law to espouse the need for the protection of forcibly displaced persons beyond the Convention’s original scope.
Notable among these regional frameworks relating to the status of refugees are: the 1969 Organization of African Unity (now African Union) Convention, Cartagena Declaration on Refugees (1984), and the European Union Council Directive (2004); all contributing to broadening the scope of refugees status in the international milieu.
The Current Situation
A global trend report published by the UN Refugee Agency in June 2025, has put the number of people who fled abroad and have become refugees globally, to 42.5 million. The report noted that this number of people were driven out of their homes to abroad due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or other events that seriously disturbed public order.
In addition, the report acknowledged that there are about 67.8 million people who are displaced within the borders of their own countries (IDPs), and 8.42 million others who are asylum-seekers. Out of the 8.42 million asylum-seekers across the globe, the United Kingdom Refugee Council has noted that a total of 89,509 asylum applications (relating to 110,051 people) was received by the UK government as of September 2025.
Further to these 110,051 people who applied for asylum in the UK, a total of 58,148 people were confirmed as refugees or granted leave to remain in the UK on humanitarian grounds or other reasons.
Filling in the Gap
The terms asylum and refugee are often wrongly used interchangeably. However, these terms differ in meaning and application. A refugee status is a protection given by a country to someone fleeing from persecution in their own country. While an asylum seeker is someone who has applied to settle in a particular country and is awaiting a decision on whether they will be granted refugee status.
Both individuals who were newly granted a refugee status and those who are seeking asylum often faced different challenges ranging from destitution and homelessness. This is where our role at Forth Valley Welcome begins.
At Forth Valley Welcome, our goal is to help refugees (some of whom we have generically termed New Scots) and asylum seekers settle into their new lives and communities with confidence and dignity.
We do this by:
- Providing essential items like household appliances, clothing, and toys to help families feel at home.
- Offering home support to assist with their day-to-day needs – whether it’s booking appointments, learning how to use public transport, or simply offering a friendly face.
- Supporting them with the English language development (for those whose first language is not English).
- Preparing them for local integration through a community building events such as conversation cafés, snacks and chats, and walk and talks, where New Scots can practise speaking the English language and build friendships.
- Coordinating family-friendly activities during school holidays to support integration and well-being.
- We are able to set these milestones and achieve them through the help of our dedicated volunteers, local partnerships, and the generosity of the community. Together, we aim to offer not just shelter, but a true sense of welcome.
