Centar za zaštitu i pomoć tražiocima azila / Asylum Protection Center

 The 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which was adopted on 28 July 1951 and came into force on 22 April 1954, is the key legal document in defining who is a refugee, that is in assessing the circumstances in connection with which a person qualifies for refugee status. Bearing in mind that the Convention covers only those persons who have become refugees as a result of events occurring before I January 1951, and that the new refugee situations have arisen since the Convention was adopted, as well as the request that equal status, protection and treatment, should be enjoyed by all refugees, a need for a new agreement that would complement and complete the 1951 Convention has arisen. The new document, the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, entered into force on 4 October 1967. By accessing to the Protocol the state party undertakes to apply the provisions of the 1951 Convention to refugees, but in deciding whether a person meets the requirements to be granted this status not only events occurring before 1 January 1951 but also those occurring later will be considered. This Protocol extends conditionally speaking the application of the 1951 Convention, but it remains independent, the accession to the Protocol is not restricted to the countries that have ratified the 1951 Convention, so that the rights and protection can enjoy persons who are in the country that has not signed up to the 1951 Convention. 

The refugee status can also be granted to a person (no matter the country, he or she is, has signed up to the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol) who meets UNHCR constitution requirements, and therefore such persons are called mandatory refugees, i.e., fall under United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ mandate.