The 1951 Refugee Convention establishing UNHCR spells out that a refugee is someone who “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 to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”
Since that date, thousands of people have both entered and remained in a state of “refugehood.” In the case of Malawi, this is reality for approximately 15,000 individuals from various countries across the Great Lakes and eastern African region. According to the United Nations, refugees typically have three options: 1) repatriation to country of origin, 2) local settlement/integration in hosting country (country of refuge), or 3) resettlement to a third-party country (e.g. England, USA, Norway, etc.). Oftentimes, the first option is the only viable solution given the vast difficulties and small chance of being resettled to a third country, coupled with harsh and restrictive refugee policy of host nations that prevent true integration. As a result, thousands of people remain in a state of “refuge,” trying to rebuild life with little or no means.