A refugee is a person who has been forced to flee their home country due to persecution, war, violence, or other circumstances that place them in need of international protection. They have a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. Refugees are defined and protected in international law, and the 1951 Refugee Convention outlines their rights, including the right to non-refoulement, which means not to be returned to a country where they may be persecuted.

Here are some key points about refugees:

• A refugee may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by the contracting state or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) if they formally make a claim for asylum.
• War and ethnic, tribal, and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries.
• By the end of 2017, there were 25.4 million refugee men, women, and children registered across the world.
• An asylum seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who hasn’t yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim.
• Internally displaced people (IDPs) are displaced by conflict, violence, or natural disasters within their own country, while migrants are people who move from their usual place of residence, whether internally or internationally, regardless of their legal status or reasons for moving.

Refugee integration means "a dynamic, long‐term process in which a newcomer becomes a full and equal participant in the receiving society. Compared to the general construct of settlement, refugee integration has a greater focus on social, cultural, and structural dimensions".