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Protection of Refugees

QUNO seeks to strengthen the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol and to foster the better protection of refugees and asylum-seekers, in particular children and adolescents and conscientious objectors to military service. It has also highlighted the largely unrecognised problem of statelessness and the importance of States to become parties to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

QUNO has highlighted the difficulties faced by former child soldiers seeking asylum - see Michaela Ludwig: Former Child Soldiers as Refugees in Germany (jointly with terre des hommes Germany)

QUNO has worked with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the applicable standards in relation to asylum for conscientious objectors, draft evaders and deserters.

In the past, QUNO was one of the pioneers in gaining international attention for internally displaced persons (IDPs), including the position of Representative of the UN Secretary-General for IDPs and the development of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. QUNO remains involved to the extent that issues of forced displacement have common features and, in some cases, cannot be clearly defined as internal or external.

Click Here for On-line Resources on the Protection of Refugees