The word ‘refugee’ is both evocative and contested; it means different things to different people. To some, a refugee is a vulnerable person who needs help. To others, a refugee is a threatening figure who belongs in a faraway land. In a newspaper column or news report, a refugee may be a person fleeing from a natural disaster or a repressive regime. Images of refugees can be visceral and are regularly used to evoke sympathy or provoke unease, to raise funds or to secure political advantage. These images often tell us more about the opinion or purpose of the person using them and the society and social order in which they are deployed than the nature, condition or legal status of the majority of the world’s refugees. The publicity materials of international agencies seeking to promote their work or raise funds often feature small groups of women and children from the Global South physically situated in the Global South, often accompanied by a logo-emblazoned aid worker from the Global North. Newspaper articles and political parties in advanced economies often choose to represent stories about refugees with images of groups of men travelling or somehow seeking entry to a wealthy country. Neither is representative, given that women are estimated to constitute just under half and children four out of ten of the refugee population, and the vast majority of the world’s refugees remain close to their country of origin in designated or informal refugee camps. For lawyers, asylum assessors and judges, the meaning of the word ‘refugee’ at first appears straightforward.
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