UNHCR “1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees”

Define American “Words Matter”

Define American “Words Matter” Tal Kopan, “Justice Department: Use ‘illegal aliens,’ not ‘undocumented’” CNN

 

UNHCR “1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees”

• In 1951 the UN adopts The Convention
• Originally limited to only Europe but the removal of the geographical and temporal limits happened in the 1967 Protocol
• Quote – “A refugee, according to the Convention, is someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion”
• The convention principles are non-discrimination, non – penalization, and non-refoulment
  • Convention cannot be deterred by sex, race, ethnicity, disability, etc.
  • Specific exceptions apply but refugees should not be penalized for illegal entry
• This bring upon the recognition of seeking asylum can require refugees to breach immigration rules

 

 

Define American “Words Matter”

• Media using undocumented immigrants as illegal
• 40% for undocumented immigrants arrive legally through visas
• Not a crime for a removable alien to remain in the US
• Word choice matters especially in politics where bias and agenda can be deciphered through word choice alone
• The term illegal has obscured the definitions and meaning behind immigrants, misdemeanor, alien, etc.
• Quote – “Phrases such as “illegal immigrant” and “illegal alien” replace complex and ever-changing legal circumstances with an unspecified assumption of guilt.”
  • The generalization of immigrants with terms such as illegal and alien creates a humane issue where people are being mistreated based of their actions andf are being classes as one section. When we create generalizations of names for the sake of consistency we lose the individuality of each person’s case.
• How has word choice and how you call on somebody effected you in day to day life? Is this consistent through race, color, sex, or status or generalized like how the DOJ wants it?

 

 

Define American “Words Matter” Tal Kopan, “Justice Department: Use ‘illegal aliens,’ not ‘undocumented’” CNN

• The justice department is notifying US attorneys to call “undocumented” immigrants as illegal aliens
  • People without papers, waiting on their application, seeking asylum etc. is all categorized in one when we add the term illegal into anything,
• Quote – “A Justice Department spokesman did not dispute the authenticity of the email and pointed to the line about seeking consistency and remedying confusion.”
  • The article talks about the  Department trying to be consistent in their terminology and remedying confusion. But how can you be consistent in a society where immigration laws are always changing, what is illegal and legal is always changing, as well how we call each other because terminology will always be changing. We can’t start simplifying terms and people cause that when mistreatment happens and it dehumanizes people and makes them into statistics instead of special individual cases.
• If you worked at the Department of Justice what is one change you would do to give more of an advantage to refugees looking for help?

 

 

In the 1951 convention a refugee is denied as “someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.” This definition was limited in Europe but removes geological limits on the Convention. Naming and how it effects our view on people that go through the process in migration is very important but looked over. The way we describe people illegal, alien, etc. makes them foreign and outlandish scaring people and automatically assuming it is bad. But when we explain the situations refugees go through talking about what they are exactly escaping from and look at it from a humane and caring point of view it shows another side to the migration. Illegal immigrant and refugee are not the same people can come to this country and still not be illegal it is considered a misdemeanor actually. People waiting on papers or asylum also not illegal but when we generalize such a broad term as migration then issues arise from that. So the reasoning behind the Department of Justice to keep things simple and to clear confusion is actually doing the opposite and obstructing our view on the clearer picture of migration.

 

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