Definition of refugee is inadequate for current patterns of migration in armed conflicts, report says

The recent Libyan crisis has highlighted failings in international systems for protecting internally displaced persons and has called into question the relevance to modern humanitarian crises of the definition of refugee, a new report concludes.

The report, by the Centre on Global Health Security at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London, says that in the case of Libya “at least five categories of migration” can be distinguished: evacuating migrant workers; Libyan nationals moving into Egypt and Tunisia; “boat people” arriving in the European Union; internally displaced people; and asylum seekers and refugees.

Although people …