The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is the foundation of
international refugee law. The Refugee Convention defines the term “refugee”
(see box on page 9) and sets minimum standards for the treatment of persons
who are found to qualify for refugee status.
Because the Convention was drafted in the wake of World War II, its definition of
a refugee focuses on persons who are outside their country of origin and are
refugees as a result of events occurring in Europe or elsewhere before 1 January
1951. As new refugee crises emerged during the late 1950s and early 1960s, it
became necessary to widen both the temporal and geographical scope of the
Refugee Convention. Thus, a Protocol to the Convention was drafted and
adopted.