It is time for the European Union to redefine what it means to be a ‘refugee’

Christopher J. Ayres writes that the migration crisis has prompted discussions over whether individuals seeking to enter the EU should be classified as ‘refugees’ or simply ‘migrants’. He argues that in light of these debates it is time for the EU to drop the requirement for an individual to have a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’ to be labelled a refugee, noting that this definition is 65 years old, antiquated, and was articulated by the United Nations Refugee Agency before the EU existed.