The definition of refugee under the Refugees Proclamation is drawn by combining the definition provided by the 1951 Refugee Convention under Article 1(A) (2), and the expanded definition given by the 1969 OAU Convention under Article 1. According to article 5(1)(a) and (b) of the Refugees Proclamation, any person shall be considered as a refugee            owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion he is outside his country of nationality or habitual residence and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling, to avail himself of the protection of that country. 

Furthermore, article 5(1) (c) has explicitly included the expanded definition of the 1969 OAU Convention and states that any person shall be considered as a refugee if he is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality. 

In addition, article 6 of the Refugees Proclamation recognizes refugee status sur place and states that a person that left the country after the incidents stated under article 5 have taken place after he has left the country of his nationality or habitual residence. This provision is in line with the UNHCR Handbook and Guidelines on procedures and criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees.