The purpose of this article is to introduce several distinctions between types of people on the move, their relative frequency, and the role the United Nations (UN) has played to develop guidelines to increase their protection. The article begins with distinctions between international migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons, and stateless persons. In total, there are an estimated 272 million people living outside their country of origin. This number includes 25.9 million refugees and 3.5 million asylum-seekers. Because these individuals experience forced migration, they are vulnerable to a myriad of challenges, and are in need of international protection. The United Nations has been at the forefront of protecting these vulnerable populations since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Several key doctrines that were subsequently written to protect immigrants, forcibly displaced individuals, and stateless persons are introduced to the reader.In this Special Issue, the reader will be presented several articles related to addressing the needs of children and families forced to flee their homeland due to war, persecution, and/or general unrest. Some of these articles will discuss refugees; others will address asylum-seekers. As such, it is important to preface this Special Issue by presenting several distinctions between types of people on the move, their relative frequency, and the role the United Nations (UN) has played to develop guidelines to increase their protection.
Defining our termsThe terms immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeker reflect distinct categories of people on the move worldwide. These groups differ in their experiences preflight, during their migratory process, and post-resettlement (Abeywickrama, Laham, & Crone, 2018). The term immigrant typically 1 refers to and individual who makes a conscious and voluntary decision to leave their country of origin to resettle in another country often for economic, occupational, educational, or familial opportunities (Abeywickrama et al., 2018). Based on national sovereignty laws, immigrants are subject to the immigration laws of their host country and deportation if their application is not granted (Buff, 2019; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2018a).