Focus on Women and Asylum

The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly issued a report recently on gender-related claims for asylum that invites "member states to ensure that gender-based violence and gender-related persecution is appropriately taken into account in any asylum determination process. They are also called upon to set up their asylum system in such a way as to ensure gender sensitivity." The Assembly also plans "to carry out a study on the approach of member states to gender-related claims in the asylum process and provide them with guidelines." (Note: See this page on the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies site for examples of gender guidelines that have already been enacted in other countries.)

Other recent reports/analyses of this issue include:

"Am Only Saying It Now": Experiences of Women Seeking Asylum in Ireland (AkiDwa, March 2010) [text]

"Crimes Without Punishment: Violence Against Women in Guatemala," Hastings Women's Law Journal, vol. 21, no. 2 (Summer 2010) [text]

"The Development of Gender as a Basis for Asylum in United States Immigration Law and Under the United Nations Refugee Convention: Case Studies of Female Asylum Seekers From Cameroon, Eritrea, Iraq and Somalia," Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, vol. 24, no. 2 (Winter 2010) [citation]

Forced Marriage and Asylum: Making Invisible Harm Visible (BePress, 2010) [text]

Ruling favors gender asylum claimant (IntLawGrrls Blog, July 2010) [text]

[Picture credit: Playbill for Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Ruined," that was inspired by refugee women from the DRC. The play is currently showing in Seattle, WA, through 15 August 2010 (source: City Arts, July 2010)]

Tagged Publications.