A/HRC/37/34 40 41 42 43 Key term Definition Refugee A refugee is someone outside their country of origin who is in need of international protection because of a serious threat to their life, physical integrity or freedom in the country of origin as a result of persecution, armed conflict, violence or serious public disorder against which the authorities in the home country cannot or will not protect them.40 Regularization A range of legislative and administrative measures employed by States to grant legal status which would enable migrants in an irregular situation to stay lawfully in their territory. 41 Return Umbrella term to refer to all the various forms, methods and processes by which migrants are returned or compelled to return to their country of origin or of habitual residence, or a third country. This includes, inter alia, deportation, expulsion, removal, extradition, pushback, handover, transfer or any other return arrangement. The use of the term “return” provides no determination as to the degree of voluntariness or compulsion in the decision to return, nor of the lawfulness or arbitrariness of the return Separated children Children who have been separated from both parents or from their legal or customary primary caregiver but not necessarily from other relatives, and are not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom, is responsible for their care. Children may become separated at any point during their migration. 42 Statelessness A stateless person is defined in article 1 (1) of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons as someone who is “not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”.43 See A/AC.96/830. The refugee protection mandate of UNHCR, in accordance with para. 6 A (ii) of its Statute (General Assembly resolution 428 (V), annex), covers “any person who … owing to wellfounded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality [or habitual residence, for those without nationality] and is unable or, owing to such fear or for reasons other than personal convenience, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country …”. For subsequent General Assembly resolutions describing the competence of the High Commissioner for Refugees, see, for example, resolutions 1673 (XVI), 2294 (XXII), 3143 (XXVIII), 31/35 (endorsing Economic and Social Council resolution 2011 (LXI)), 36/125 and 48/118. While recalling there is no right to regularization under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (art. 35), the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, in its article 69 (2) requires States to consider the possibility of regularizing the situation of persons in accordance with applicable national legislation and bilateral or multilateral agreements, and in doing so to take appropriate account of the circumstances of their entry, the duration of their stay and other relevant considerations, in particular those relating to their family situations. See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 6 (2005) on treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin, para. 8. The International Law Commission has concluded that the definition in article 1 (1) of the Convention forms part of customary international law (see the text of the draft articles on diplomatic protection in A/61/10, chap. IV.E.2, chap. II, Natural persons, article 8, Stateless persons and refugees, commentary, para. (3)). See also UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (2014). 11