Global Development Institute explains brings together expert academics from across the Institute to explain key concepts in development studies.
Who is a refugee? How do you define words like ‘migrant’ and ‘asylum seeker’? Are these synonymous with ‘refugee’? As part of the Global Development Institute Explains series, Dr Tanja Müller presents ‘migrant or refugee’, and discusses the differences between these terms. The press, such as The Guardian, BBC and Al Jazeera, use such words for specific purposes, sometimes interchangeably and inconsistently. How are the distinctions made? How does the legal definition of ‘refugee’ for example diverge from how the term is used by media or understood by members of the public? Watch to find out.