The migration crisis, from a legal point of view

The United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees signed in Geneva in 1951, and amended by the Protocol signed in New York in 1967, defines a refugee as "someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion." The Convention enshrines the rights of all refugees, globally.

The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, signed in Palermo in 2000, meanwhile, sets out measures for the prevention, suppression and punishment of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, as well as for the smuggling of migrants by land, sea or air (passed in Greece under Law 3875/2010 and published in the Government Gazette under 158/A/20-9-2010). Human trafficking is defined as the ...