Refugee Claimants Research Articles

Refugee Claims Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: an Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography gives an account of legal and social sciences research sources related to refugee claims based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The bibliography, which focuses primarily on English language publications, includes close to 200 items that fall into the following two categories of research sources: (1) scholarly publications on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) refugees and asylum-seekers and the refugee determination process; (2) reports from international, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations

Asylum-seekers falsely implicating themselves in international crimes: Should they be informed of the existence of Article 1F of the Refugee Convention?

Case studies in the Netherlands and the UK of asylum applicants excluded or under consideration of exclusion pursuant to Article 1Fa of the Refugee Convention reveal that some applicants falsely implicated themselves in serious crimes or behaviours in order to enhance their refugee claim. This may have serious consequences for the excluded persons themselves, as well as for national governments dealing with them. For this reason we suggest immigration authorities could consider forewarning asylum applicants i.e. before their interview, about the existence, purpose and possible consequences of exclusion on the basis of Article 1F.

The cost and impact of the interim federal health program cuts on child refugees in Canada.

IntroductionOn June 30, 2012, Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) funding was cut for refugee claimant healthcare. The potential financial and healthcare impacts of these cuts on refugee claimants are unknown.MethodsWe conducted a one-year retrospective chart review spanning 6 months before and after IFHP funding cuts at The Hospital for Sick Children, a tertiary care children's hospital in Toronto. We analyzed emergency room visits characteristics, admission rates, reasons for admission, and financial records including billing from Medavie Blue Cross.ResultsThere were 173 refugee children visits to the emergency room in the six months before and 142 visits in the six months after funding cuts. The total amount billed to the IFHP program during the one-year of this study was $131,615. Prior to the IFHP cuts, 46% of the total emergency room bills were paid by IFHP compared to 7% after the cuts (p<0.001).InterpretationAfter the cuts to the IFHP, The Hospital for Sick Children was unable to obtain federal health coverage for the vast majority of refugee claimant children registered under the IFHP. This preliminary analysis showed that post-IFHP cuts healthcare costs at the largest tertiary pediatric institution in the country increased.

Queer Settlers: Questioning Settler Colonialism in LGBT Asylum Processes in Canada

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; Refugee and forced migration studies have focused primarily on the refugees’ countries of origin and the causes for migration. Yet it is also important to also critically investi- gate the processes, discourses, and structures of settlement in the places they migrate to. This has particular signifi- cance in settler states like Canada in which research on refugee and forced migration largely ignores the presence of Indigenous peoples, the history of colonization that has made settlement possible, and ways the nation has shaped its borders through inflicting control and violence on Indigenous persons. What does it mean, then, to file a refugee claim in a state like Canada in which there is ongoing colonial violence against First Nations communities? In this article, we will explore what it means to make a refugee claim based on sexual orientation and gender identity in a settler-state like Canada. For sexual and gender minority refugees in Canada, interconnected structures of col- onial discourse and regulation come into force through the Canadian asylum and resettlement process. It is through this exploration that ideas surrounding migration, asylum, and settlement become unsettled. &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Despair as a Governing Strategy: Australia and the Offshore Processing of Asylum-Seekers on Nauru

As part of its efforts to deter the arrival of asylum-seekers by boat to Australia in 2001, Prime Minister John Howard’s Coalition Government established the offshore processing of refugee claims. Known as the Pacific Solution, this policy included an agreement with Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island for asylum-seekers arriving to Australia by boat to be transported to either of these islands where they would wait in camps while their refugee claims were processed. The majority of the asylum-seekers subjected to offshore processing at this time were held on Nauru, and most had fled Afghanistan. Governmentality, as introduced by Michel Foucault and developed by later scholars, provides insight into the institutions, methods, techniques, strategies, and tactics used by governments to achieve its ends. This article explores Australian Government policy and the experience of Afghan asylum-seekers held on Nauru from 2001 using a governmentality approach. Given that people seeking asylum in Australia are once again being transported to Nauru and Papua New Guinea, this time initiated by a Labor Government and continued by the current Coalition Government, this article’s findings are pertinent for insight into understanding current Australian policy.

Testimonies of LGBTIQ refugees as cartographies of political, sexual and emotional borders

To be granted status, refugee claimants have to testify at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). This liminal space is charged with both the promise of liberation and the threat of deportation. Adding to the challenge are the governmental measures that constrain the right to asylum. This paper suggests answers to the question: What language and other discursive features do LGBTIQ claimants have to use to be recognized as refugees? This ethnography is based on fieldwork conducted in Toronto and Vancouver. I will present two vignettes of claimants I accompanied to their hearings. Contrary to heterosexuals, queer asylum seekers have to prove their sexual orientation and/or their gender identity. Truth about their sexuality and persecution is evaluated through the lens of legal technologies, and stereotypes are still common. However, extralegal forms of communication also come into play. New avenues for justice are being fostered by grassroots organizations.

To feel the truth

In this paper I explore how adjudicators in the Canadian refugee determination system assess sexual orientation refugee claims. By focusing on discourse and terminology of questions utilized in the hearing (in which the refugee claimant answers questions posed by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) Member), I will outline how these questions contain predetermined social knowledge and thus operate as a cultural formation through which particular arrangements of sexual and gendered practices and identities are privileged. However, documents and interviews with IRB staff reveal the presence of a ‘gut feeling’ or ‘sixth-sense’ in determining the credibility of a claimant’s sexual orientation. While some may argue that these feelings represent a level of sensitivity that humanizes the decision making process, I argue that they reveal adjudicators’ application of their own understandings and feelings about ‘authentic’ sexual identities and relationships derived from specific cultural, gendered, raced and classed experiences, which, in effect, re-inscribe a homonormative mode of gatekeeping that may have profound consequences for a claimant whose narrative and/or performance fails to stir the appropriate senses.

The Admission of Lesbians and Gay Asylum Seekers to the USA: From Victory (Ejusdem Generis) to Complications (Social Visibility)

Under US asylum law, lesbians and gay men are considered members of a particular social group as established by the case of Toboso-Alfonso. The phrase’ membership in a particular social group’ was effectively defined in Matter of Acosta, based on the doctrine of ejusdem generis. The ejusdem generis approach was utilised until 2006, when the Board of Immigration Appeal (BIA) introduced a new interpretation of membership in a particular social group, known as the social visibility test, which requires lesbians and gay men to be visible and recognizable in their societies to be eligible for asylum. Unlike the BIA’s social visibility test, the ejusdem generis approach grants asylum to lesbians and gay men on the basis that their sexuality is innate and fundamental to their identity. This article presents arguments to suggest that the social visibility test should be rejected by all US courts, and the ejusdem generis approach should be the only adopted test in interpreting membership in a particular social group, and used to adjudge refugee claims based on sexual orientation.

The impact of procedural capital and quality counsel in the Canadian refugee determination process

In an era where international immigration is increasingly difficult and selective, refugee status constitutes a valuable public good that enables access and membership to the host country. Despite the independent, impartial and discretionary character of refugee decision-making at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), where an adjudicator determines refugee status following a hearing, critics blame the disparities in refugee status grant rates on the adjudicators. In particular, the disparities are attributed to unfair and inconsistent refugee determination. By examining the pre-hearing period and the refugee hearing, this article questions the attribution of responsibility in inconsistent decision-making solely to the adjudicators. Though refugee status grant rates do in fact vary, when the analytical gaze is turned to the characteristics of the refugee claimants and their counsels we notice that not all claimants have similar resources and abilities, receive equivalent legal consultation or submit case folders prepared in comparable quality.

Feds stick with decision not to fund refugee health care

Although Ontario has reinstated many of the aspects of health services for refugee claimants that the federal government withdrew in 2012, Ottawa remains adamant that it will not reconsider the cuts. “Provincial governments are responsible for health care, and they will foot the bill for

Neither Temporary, Nor Permanent: The Precarious Employment Experiences of Refugee Claimants in Canada

Although refugee claimants are often portrayed as a drain on Canada’s economic resources, their employment experiences and contributions to the labour market remain under-represented in the literature. This study explores the employment experiences of refugee claimants in Toronto, Canada. Through the lens of refugeeness, it traces the subjective employment trajectories of refugee claimants, as well as the objective forces compromising their employability. Drawing on 17 interviews with refugee claimants, our analysis shows both that refugee claimants face distinct barriers stemming from their precarious legal status, and that refugee claimants’ employability is perceived as shaped by real and ascribed barriers associated with this status. In addition, refugee claimants perceive employment as an expression of belonging and citizenship.

Not Just the Facts: Adjudicator Bias and Decisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2006–2011)

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is Canada's largest administrative tribunal. The Refugee Protection Division (RPD) of the IRB is responsible for the adjudication of refugee claims made in Canada. In accordance with its obligations under international law, Canada grants protection to persons who have a well-founded fear of persecution because of race, nationality, religion, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. In addition, a person may request protection in Canada on the basis of his or her fear of torture, risk to life or risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. Acceptance (approval) rates of claims vary widely across members of the IRB, with some granting asylum in less than 10 percent of cases, and others granting asylum in more than 90 percent of cases. Despite this fact, there is a lack of analysis exploring whether grant rates vary systematically in relationship to observed characteristics of adjudicators. This paper presents statistical analysis of over 68,000 refugee claims adjudicated by 264 members of the board from 2006 to 2011. It finds that the probability of acceptance is associated with individual members' characteristics including education, gender, and professional experience, when holding constant the claimant's country of origin, gender, and the year and regional office of adjudication. The findings suggest that the identity of the adjudicator affects whether or not an individual receives asylum.

A bed of roses?: exploring the experiences of LGBT newcomer youth who migrate to Toronto

Purpose – This study sought to gain a better understanding of the general life experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newcomer youth, situated within the broader context of their lives post-migration. The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of various forms of oppression experienced by LGBT newcomers and offers recommendations for transforming services to better serve the complex needs of this marginalized population. Design/methodology/approach – The Teens Resisting Urban Trans/Homophobia (TRUTH) project was comprised of ten focus groups with 70 youth (aged 14-29) living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Another three focus groups were conducted with 13 GTA service providers and teachers working with LGBT youth, in addition to one key informant interview. For this paper, the authors drew from a subset of the data including four newcomer-specific focus groups in which there were 39 youth who identified as refugees or immigrants, as well as key informant interviews with four youth (three of whom also participated in focus groups) and one service provider. Participants were asked about “what homophobia and transphobia meant to them”, “where they experienced it”, “in what forms”, and “how it impacted their daily lives”. Findings – The experiences of LGBT newcomer youth in this study involved a complex negotiation of multiple systems of oppression. Youth described experiences of homophobia and racism within interpersonal relationships, in the LGBT community, in their respective diasporic communities, in social service encounters and during the immigration/refugee process. Barriers for LGBT refugee youth included difficulties finding work and accessing health care, as well as the additional burden of proving their sexual orientation during refugee claimant hearings. Research limitations/implications – While the combination of focus groups and key informant interviews is a strength in this study, it also presents challenges for analysis. In focus groups, it is not always clear who is speaking; because of this, the authors were sometimes unable to differentiate between refugee and immigrant youth (or those without status) in our focus groups, making it often unclear which perspective or experience youth were speaking to. Another limitation was the dominance of the “cisgender gay male voice” in our conclusions. Lesbian and bisexual women were present in fewer numbers and the sample only included three trans youth. Practical implications – The findings reveal systemic discrimination on the basis of race and sexual orientation that illuminate injustices within Canadian society and systems that can enhance the efforts of those working in policy and service environments. Focused anti-homophobia and anti-racism training, and the implementation of policies designed to enhance accessibility, could improve service provision for newcomer LGBT youth. Furthermore, in order to facilitate a more just settlement process, a broader understanding of sexual identity, gender identity, and gender expression is required of the refugee claimant system. Originality/value – This study examines the experiences of youth in a large and complex, multicultural, and gay-friendly urban centre, thus providing timely and current data about the well-being of newcomer LGBT youth. As such, it is one of the first studies to offer some insights into the life issues and challenges post-migration of Canadian LGBT newcomer youth.

Should we perform kidney transplants on foreign nationals?

In Canada, there are currently no guidelines at either the federal or provincial level regarding the provision of kidney transplantation services to foreign nationals (FN). Renal transplant centres have, in...

Access to Health Care: The Experiences of Refugee and Refugee Claimant Women in Hamilton, Ontario

Using a social-determinants-of-health framework, this article explores the accessibility of health services from the viewpoints of service providers (n = 9) and refugee and refugee claimant women (n = 37) in Hamilton, Ontario. It also asks whether the experiences of refugee and refugee claimant women in navigating the health care system differ. Overall, opportunities for accessing health and social services were largely constrained by (or enabled by) their legal entitlements as Convention refugees or refugee claimants, rather than by their cultural or ethnic identities.

The Culture of Rights Protection in Canadian Refugee Law: Examining the Domestic Violence Cases

This article examines Canadian refugee law cases involving domestic violence, analyzed through a comparison with cases involving forced sterilization and genital cutting. Surveying 645 reported decisions, it suggests that Canadian adjudicators generally adopted different methods of analysis in refugee cases involving domestic violence, as compared with these other claims. The article argues that Canadian adjudicators rarely recognized domestic violence as a rights violation in itself but, instead, demonstrated a general predisposition toward finding domestic violence persecution in cultural difference. That is, adjudicators tended to recognize domestic violence claimants not as victims of persecutory practices but rather as victims of persecutory cultures. The article suggests that this approach establishes incorrect criteria by which to evaluate domestic violence claims, for two main reasons. First, this approach does not accord due weight to complex factors besides culture that make women vulnerable to persecution in domestic settings. Second, this approach erects legal and conceptual barriers for women who cannot authentically narrate their experience through the script of cultural vulnerability or who cannot present as “victims of culture”. The article posits that characterizing the violence suffered by refugee women as a product of culture does more than erect barriers for refugee claimants; it also operates as a protective device that suppresses the commonality of domestic violence across cultures and elides its domestic prevalence. The article concludes by suggesting that this approach replicates problematic assumptions about gender violence and gender difference that make it harder to address domestic violence both abroad and at home.

How to Stop a Deportation

O n an overcast September morning that seemed like any other, twenty-year-old Steve Li woke up early and began getting ready for his classes at the City College of San Francisco. He ignored the unexpected ringing of the doorbell, until it was replaced by an urgent pounding at the door. Moments later, as he stood in the bathroom, he heard his mother’s voice as she answered the door. What happened next is a nightmare familiar to some 11 million undocumented people who reside in the United States, many of whom live day to day with uncertainty. Deportations are on the rise. According to data from the Department of Homeland Security, last year they hit a record high of nearly 410,000, a rate double what it had been over the previous ten years. And that number doesn’t include “voluntary returns” — mostly people who are picked up by border patrol and forced to leave. Under the two Obama administrations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported more people than during Bush’s presidency. Nearly half of those deported in fiscal year 2012 had no criminal record, like Steve Li. Of those with criminal convictions, most were convicted of low-level offenses such as forgery, driving without a license, or drinking in public. Too often, individuals facing deportation have endured this process in isolation, sometimes further isolated by feelings of shame. But with increasing frequency, communities — often those with the fewest legal rights — are organizing to expose and resist the violence of deportation. It is an understatement to say that it is difficult to stop a deportation. Legal codes regulating immigration and deportation can be arcane and esoteric, and are described as among the most complicated of U.S. laws. Nevertheless, victories are possible. One ad hoc defense group convinced a state senator to intervene in a deportation. Another campaign halted a seemingly irreversible final removal order at the eleventh hour — the procedural equivalent of slamming the brakes on a train and watching it come to a screeching halt at the edge of a cliff. Other times, victory manifests in meaningful but less measurable forms: a box full of letters, an extension granted in an appeals process, or a packed room full of supporters.

El exilio incómodo: México y los refugiados judíos, 1933-1945

El exilio incómodo: México y los refugiados judíos, 1933-1945

Sexual Orientation and the Refugee Determination Process: Questioning a Claimant About Their Membership in the Particular Social Group

This paper proposes a questioning model for refugee adjudicators of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board to assist in determining whether a refugee claimant is a member of a particular social group based on sexual orientation. This model was revised and updated in a 2004 paper Sexual Orientation and the Refugee Determination Process: Questioning a Claimant About Their Membership in the Particular Social Group also posted to the SSRN.

Health workers' perceptions of access to care for children and pregnant women with precarious immigration status: Health as a right or a privilege?

The Canadian government's recent cuts to healthcare coverage for refugee claimants has rekindled the debate in Canada about what medical services should be provided to individuals with precarious immigration status, and who should pay for these services. This article further explores this debate, focussing on the perceptions of healthcare workers in Montreal, a large multiethnic Canadian city. In April–June 2010, an online survey was conducted to assess how clinicians, administrators, and support staff in Montreal contend with the ethical and professional dilemmas raised by the issue of access to healthcare services for pregnant women and children who are partially or completely uninsured. Drawing on qualitative analysis of answers (n = 237) to three open-ended survey questions, we identify the discursive frameworks that our respondents mobilized when arguing for, or against, universal access to healthcare for uninsured patients. In doing so, we highlight how their positions relate to their self-evaluations of Canada's socioeconomic situation, as well as their ideological representations of, and sense of social connection to, precarious status immigrants. Interestingly, while abstract values lead some healthcare workers to perceive uninsured immigrants as “deserving” of universal access to healthcare, negative perceptions of these migrants, coupled with pragmatic considerations, pushed most workers to view the uninsured as “underserving” of free care. For a majority of our respondents, the right to healthcare of precarious status immigrants has become a “privilege”, that as taxpayers, they are increasingly less willing to contribute to. We conclude by arguing for a reconsideration of access to healthcare as a right, and offer recommendations to move in this direction.