When first we light upon the 1951 Convention we quickly learn that its crux is article 1A(2) and that the keystone of 1A(2) is the concept of persecution. The precise wording, of course, refers to ‘being persecuted’ d’etre persecutee in the French text, and the use of the present passive tense/gerund is critical because it demonstrates that we are concerned with current fear (rather than historic fear) and with the interaction between persecutor and persecuted.1 However, this opinion paper will refer to the abstract noun because that is how we name things. We are perhaps apprehensive to find no definition of either persecution or the other key term in article 1A(2) protection but we quickly move on, confident of learning that legal experts have long ago set everyone straight about this. Once first we begin reading the legal experts and their textbooks we quickly learn that when seeking to interpret the Convention’s key terms persecution and protection in particular we must strive, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law ... http://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/resource/what-constitutes-persecution-towards-working-definition Page 1 of 1