The refugee convention of 1951 is the key or the most important legal document ratified by 145 state parties, it outlines the rights of the displaced, their basic needs which should be fulfilled and as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them. The core principal of this convention is non-refoulment which lays stress on the fact that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom, this system is now a rule of customary international law. The UNHCR serves as the protector and guardian of the 1951 convention and also its 1967 protocol. If we go by the legislation, States are expected to cooperate with UNHCR in ensuring that the rights of refugees are respected and protected no matter in whichever part of the world they go to seek asylum. A refugee has the basic right to seek asylum anywhere. However, sometimes international protection comprises more than just physical safety, refugees should be made a subject to the same rights and the basic amount of help as any other foreigner would if he or she would have been a legal resident, including freedom of thought and movement and also freedom from torture and degrading treatment. The International Human Rights, humanitarian and the refugee law are the primary sources which are used to define the protection of the refugees and also to identify the responsibilities of the states who are giving them asylum. The international community, the UNHCR are the prime parties to provide the refugees the protection they require. This usually involves the three widely accepted definitions of protection. The refugee law, which is a branch of international law dealing usually with the rights and protection of the refugees. There are differences in opinions from various scholars of international law when it comes to the difference between refugee law and international human rights law or humanitarian law.
The United Nations has laid out the 1951 refugee convention to define the refugees mainly to state and define their rights and their access to the states protection. It sets out the rights of the individuals who are granted asylum or protection and also the rights and duties of the nation that grants the asylum. This convention also sets out the persons who are not classified as refugees such as war criminals. The refugee convention has its foundation on Article 14 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognizes the right of persons to seek asylum from persecution in other countries, herein it can be said that a refugee may enjoy the rights and benefits offered by the state where they are living in addition to those provided for in the convention. This convention was approved at a special United Nations conference on 28 July 1951. It was initially limited to the protection of European refugees, though the states could declare that the provisions would apply to refugees from other places too. The 1967 protocol however removed the time limits and applied to the refugees irrespective of geographical boundaries. According to the general principals of the International law, the treaties that are in force are binding upon the parties to it and they must be performed under good faith. Countries that are a party to the Refugee Convention are under the obligation to protect the refugees taking shelter in their territory, going with its terms and provisions which are mentioned in the convention.
It was no failure in 1951 not to have known precisely how the world would evolve. On the contrary, it may be counted a success that the drafters of the 1951 Convention were in fact able to identify, in the concept of a well-founded fear of persecution, the enduring, indeed universal, characteristics of the refugee, and to single out the essential, though never exclusive, reason for flight. That certainly has not changed, even if the scope and extent of the refugee definition have matured under the influence of human rights, and even as there is now increasing recognition of the need to enhance and ensure the protection of individuals still within their own country.
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