THE BIRTH OF A UNIVERSAL CONCEPT: REFUGEES AND COLONIAL RESONANCES

Abstract

 The definition of refugee is based on a precept applied by the UN (United Nations) as “universal”. Whoever intends to seek refuge, necessarily depends on the classic concept of the 1951 Geneva Convention, so that they are likely to receive some social, technical and financial assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Although there is the ideology of the instrument being universal, designed to encompass all possible causes of refuge, not all people fit this definition, as a result of the imposed and restrictive rigidity, revealing its inadequacy and insufficiency in the current Canary. Scholars and Activists of the discipline often question the refugee definition prescribed in the 1951 Geneva Convention, understanding that the concept's firmament was architected from a privileged place.