Refugee

In general, a refugee is a displaced individual who has crossed international boundaries and who is unable or unwilling to return home owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted. This fear prevents them from returning home. A person in this situation may be referred to as an asylum seeker until the contracting state or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), if they officially file a claim for asylum, grants them refugee status. Until then, they are considered an asylum seeker. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the primary international institution that is in charge of managing protection for refugees. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is the second agency that the United Nations has dedicated to assisting refugees. This office is entirely responsible for providing financial assistance to the vast majority of Palestinian refugees.

The word refugee comes from the root word refuge, which comes from the Old French word refuge, which literally translates to "hiding place." It comes from the Latin words fugere, which mean "to flee," and refugium, which means "a taking refuge, somewhere to run back to." These words mean "shelter or safety from danger or sorrow." In the annals of Western history, the phrase was first used to refer to French Protestant Huguenots who, after the issuance of the first Edict of Fontainebleau in 1540, were on the lookout for a refuge from Catholic persecution. After the Edict of Fontainebleau (the revocation of the Edict of Nantes) in France in 1685 and the Declaration of Indulgence in England and Scotland in 1687, a considerable number of French Huguenots fled to Britain, which contributed to the introduction of the phrase into the English language. Around the year 1916, the meaning of the phrase changed from "one seeking refuge" to "one fleeing home." In this context, the term referred to citizens in Flanders who were heading west to escape the violence that was taking place during World War I.