ABSTRACT
Flight is one of the most basic responses to persecution and violence. The 1951 Refugee Convention presumes that refugees are outside of their own country, that they have fled from individualized state-based persecution, and that they can no longer count on the protection of their own state. To respond to this, the Convention and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) exist to provide these refugees with international protection. Thus, protection is anchored in international law.
