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Refugee Status Procedure

SenegalHumanitarian protection

Explore the five recorded questions, answers and sources for this pathway.

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What exactly is this: asylum, temporary protection, humanitarian admission, resettlement or another protection mechanism?

Statutory refugee status under Senegal's Law 2022-01 of 14 April 2022 on the status of refugees and stateless persons, which repeals and replaces Law 68-27 of 24 July 1968. A refugee is a person outside their country of nationality (or former habitual residence) with a well-founded fear of persecution for race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion; the term also covers anyone forced to leave because of external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in their country.

See recorded sources

Which population, circumstances or geographic group does the mechanism cover?

Covers any foreign person who is a refugee in Senegal, plus asylum-seekers (demandeurs d'asile) pending recognition. The law applies without restriction to nationality or region of origin; it is a general national refugee-status law, not limited to a specific population or geographic group.

See recorded sources
  • Loi n. 2022-01, Exposé des motifs
    Le présent projet de loi qui abroge la loi n° 68-27 du 24 juillet 1968 portant statut des réfugiés
  • Loi n. 2022-01, Art. premier
    La présente loi s'applique à toute personne étrangère réfugiée au Sénégal, aux apatrides, aux demandeurs d'asile et aux demandeurs au statut d'apatride.

Where can protection be requested, and is this a direct application, border/in-country request, referral or other process?

Admission to refugee status is granted by decree after the opinion of the National Commission for the Management of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CNGRA); the conditions and admission procedure are fixed by decree. A person arriving directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened incurs no criminal penalty for irregular entry or stay if they present themselves within a reasonable time to the national authorities responsible for refugees. The official source does not state where the request is filed or whether it can be made at the border.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • The implementing decree on the admission procedure is not in the captured sources, so the filing place and whether requests can be made at the border are not stated.

What happens after the request: registration, family handling, major support and rights where officially stated?

An asylum seeker can be expelled only after a final rejection of the application. Family members (spouses, first-degree descendants, dependants) accompanying or joining a refugee receive derived status after verification of family links, unless they hold another nationality with that country's protection, and keep it after divorce or death; the State with UNHCR assists family reunification. An unaccompanied minor applicant is treated as a child in danger and placed under CNGRA protection. Recognised refugees receive an identity card (validity and renewal set by decree) and have the same rights as nationals in areas such as healthcare, work, property, social security, housing and education. The official source does not state registration steps or material support during the procedure.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • Registration steps and material support (accommodation, subsistence) during the procedure are not stated in the law.

Which competent authority, UN body or official assistance channel should the person use?

The competent body is the National Commission for the Management of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CNGRA), attached to the Presidency of the Republic. It follows all refugee-status matters, provides legal and administrative protection to applicants and beneficiaries, assists refugees and asylum seekers, and gives its opinion on every application. Decisions admitting or rejecting refugee status can be appealed.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • The law gives no contact details or UNHCR channel for applicants and no fraud warning.

These are the answers currently recorded in the catalogue. A missing or partial answer is not an eligibility decision.

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