Background information
on gender and asylum issues4

Authored by CGRS Students and Staff :

Frydman, Lisa and Kim Thuy Seelinger, Kasinga's Protection Undermined? Recent Developments in Female Genital Cutting Jurisprudence. 13 Bender's Immigration Bulletin 1073. September 1, 2008. Download a copy (PDF 274 KB)
Reprinted from Bender's Bulletin with permission.

Boyle, Meghann, Paths to Protection: Ideas, Resources and Strategies for Presenting Central American Gang-related Asylum Claims. Immigration Briefings, November 2007. Download a copy (PDF 131 KB)
Reprinted from Immigration Briefings with permission. Copyright (c) 2007 Thomson/West. For more information about this publication please visit www.west.thomson.com

Knight, Stephen, Asylum from Trafficking: A Failure of Protection. Immigration Briefings , July 2007. Download a copy (PDF 2 MB)

Rice, Marcelle, Protecting Parents: Why Mothers and Fathers Who Oppose Female Genital Cutting Qualify for Asylum. Immigration Briefings, November 2004. Download a copy (PDF 1.6 MB)

Musalo, Karen, Revisiting social group and nexus in gender asylum claims: a unifying rationale for evolving jurisprudence, 52 DePaul L. Rev. 777-808 (2003)

-----, (co-author), Asylum for Victims of Gender Violence: An Overview of the Law, and an Analysis of 45 Unpublished Decisions, Immigration Briefings 03-12 (Dec. 2003)

-----, (co-author), Steps Forward and Back: Uneven Progress in the Law of Social Group and Gender-Based Claims in the U.S., 13 International Journal of Refugee Law 51 (2001)

-----, (co-author), Gender-Based Asylum: An Analysis of Recent Trends, 77 Interpreter Releases 1533 (October 30, 2000)
    (Copyright 2000 by West Group. Reprinted with permission of Interpreter Releases.)

-----, Matter of R-A-: An Analysis of the Decision and its Implications, 76 Interpreter Releases 1177 (August 9, 1999)
    (Copyright 1999 by West Group. Reprinted with permission of Interpreter Releases.)

-----, Ruminations on In re Kasinga: The Decision’s Legacy, 7 U.S.C. Review of Law and Women’s Studies 357 (1998)

-----, The Developing Jurisprudence of Gender-Based Claims, Immigration & Nationality Law Handbook (American Immigration Lawyers Association 1997)

-----, In Re Kasinga: A Big Step Forward for Gender-Based Asylum Claims, 73 Interpreter Releases 853 (July 1, 1996)

-----, Women Refugees: Does the United States Provide Adequate Protection?, Inter Alia (University of Durham, England) Vol.1, Issue 5 (1996)

-----, Legal Issues for Refugee Women, in Women's Legal Guide: A Comprehensive Guide to Legal Issues Affecting Every Woman 487 (Barbara R. Hauser, ed., 1996)

-----, Irreconcilable Differences?; Divorcing Refugee Protections from Human Rights Norms, 15 Mich. J.Int'l L. 1179 (1994)

----- (co-author), No Justice, No Peace: Accountability for Rape and Gender-Based Violence in the Former Yugoslavia, 5 Hastings Women's Law Journal 91 (1994)

-----, Comparison of the Use of Social Group in Canadian and United States Jurisprudence, Immigration and Nationality Law: 1993 Annual Symposium - Advanced Topics (1993)

Other articles:

Adams, Laura S., Fleeing the family: a domestic violence victim's particular social group. 49 Loy. L. Rev. 287-299 (2003)

Akram, Susan Musarrat, Orientalism Revisited in Asylum and Refugee Claims, 12 J. of Intl Refugee Law 7 (2000)

Alexander, Barbara Cochrane. Convention Against Torture: a  Viable Legal Alternative Remedy for Domestic Violence Victims, 15 Am. U. Int'l L. Rev. 895 (2000)

Aliaskari, Mahsa. U.S. Asylum Law Applied to Battered Women Fleeing Islamic Countries. 8 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 231-282 (2000)

Amnesty International - Ireland, Refugees - Human Rights Have No Borders: Women Refugees

Anker, Deborah. Refugee Status and Violence Against Women in the "Domestic" Sphere: the Non-State Actor Question. 15 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 391-402 (2001)

-----, Defining ‘Particular Social Group’ in Terms of Gender: The Shah Decision and U.S. Law, 76 Interpreter Releases 1005 (July 2, 1999)

-----, et al., Rape in the Community as a Basis for Asylum: The Treatment of Women Refugees' Claims to Protection in Canada and the United States, 2 Bender's Immigr. Bull. 608 (August 1, 1997)

-----, et al., The BIA's New Asylum Jurisprudence and Its Relevance for Women's Claims, 73 Interpreter Releases 1173 (1996)

Annitto, Megan. Asylum for Victims of Domestic Violence: Is Protection Possible After In re R-A-? 49 Cath. U. L. Rev. 785-822 (2000)

Babha, Jacqueline & Wendy A. Young, Through a Child's Eyes: Protecting the Most Vulnerable Asylum Seekers, 75 Interpreter Releases 757 (1998)

Blanck, Amanda. Domestic Violence as a Basis for Asylum Status: A Human Rights Based Approach, 22 Women's Rights L. Rep. 47 (Fall/Winter 2000)

Boyd, Monica, Canada’s Refugee Flows: Gender Inequality

Büllesbach, Anna (UNHCR), Right of asylum, deportations and risks of female genital mutilation, Nuremberg, Strasbourg, December 1999

Camus-Jacques, Genevieve, Refugee Women: The Forgotten Majority, Refugees and International Relations, 141, 142 (Gil Loescher & Laila Monahan eds. 1989)

Cartwright, Hon Justice Dame Silvia, High Court of New Zealand, "Contemporary Gender Issues in the Refugee Context," International Association Of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ), Inaugural Meeting IARLJ, Australia/New Zealand Chapter - 10 March 2000

Center for Reproductive Law & Policy, Female Genital Mutilation: A Guide to Laws and Policies Worldwide (June 2000)

Cipriani, Linda. Gender and Persecution: Protecting Women Under International Refugee Law, 7 Geo. Immigra. L.J. 511 (1993)

Chisholm, B.J. Credible definitions: a critique of U.S. asylum law's treatment of gender-related claims. 44 How. L.J. 427-480 (2001)

Cissé, Bernadette Passade (co-author), Gender Issues In Asylum Law After Matter of R-A-, Immigration Briefings No. 00-2 (February 2000)

Concepcion, Natasha Parassram, Extending Asylum Eligibility to Include Gender-Related Persecution, Human Rights Brief, Vol. 7 No. 2 (Winter 2000)

Condon, Jenny-Brooke. Comment. Asylum law's gender paradox. 33 Seton Hall L. Rev. 207-256 (2002)

Conference Report, "Towards a Gender-Sensitive Asylum Policy in Europe," 11-12 June 1998, Brussels (can be ordered from UNHCR Brussels)

Courtney, Andrea L. Addressing the Horror Stories: How the Convention Against Torture Offers a Promising Answer to U.S. Asylum Seekers Fleeing Female Genital Mutilation. 1 Geo. J. Gender & L. 887-910 (2000)

Davy, Ulrike, Refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina: Are They Genuine? A Closer Look at Asylum Practice in Australia and Germany, 18 Suffolk Transnat'l L. Rev. 53 (1995)

Donovan, Sharon. Casenote. Nowhere to run ... nowhere to hide: battered women seeking asylum in the United States find protection hard to come by. (Matter of R--A--, Int. Dec. 3403, B.I.A. 1999.) 11 Geo. Mason U. Civ. Rts. L.J. 301-334 (2001)

Ellegaard, Mette -- Women and asylum: A conference report on gender-related persecution (Danish Refugee Council, 1997)

European Council on Refugees and Exiles, Position on Asylum Seeking and Refugee Women

Franke, Lindsay A. Not meeting the standard: U.S. asylum law and gender-related claims. (In re R-A-, Int. Dec. 3403, BIA 1999.) 17 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 605-626 (2000)

Gender and the Law - Essays: Legal essays on gender and law, indexed by subject.

Gillespie, Shanyn. Note. Terror in the home: the failure of U.S. asylum law to protect battered women and a proposal..., Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 131-158 (2003)

Glezakos, Christina. Comment. Domestic violence and asylum: is the Department of Justice providing adequate guidance for adjudicators? 43 Santa Clara L. Rev. 539-568 (2003)

Goldberg, Pamela,  Analytical Approaches in Search of Consistent Application: a Comparative Analysis of the Second Circuit Decisions Addressing Gender in the Asylum Law Context. 66 Brook. L. Rev. 309-360 (2000)

-----, (co-author), Gender Issues In Asylum Law After Matter of R-A-, Immigration Briefings No. 00-2 (February 2000)

-----, Where in the World is There Safety for Me?: Women Fleeing Gender-Based Persecution, in Women's Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives 126 (Julie Peters & Andrea Wolper eds., 1995)

-----, Asylum Law and Gender-Based Persecution Claims, Cornell Int'l L. Rev. (1994)

-----, Seeing Through Women’s Eyes: A Review Essay of Price of Honor - Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World, 11 New York Law School Journal of Human Rights 603 (1994)

-----, Anyplace But Home: Asylum in the U.S. for Women Fleeing Intimate Violence, 26 Cornell Int’l L. J. 565 (1993)

Hueben, Elizabeth A. Domestic Violence and Asylum Law: the United States Takes Several Remedial Steps in Recognizing Gender-Based Persecution.
    70 UMKC L. Rev. 453-469 (2001)

Hoffman, Marci, Human Rights Worldwide: When the Message is Hard to Deliver – Refugees, Women and Sexual Minorities: A Selective Bibliography, University of Minnesota Law Library

Human Rights Brief, Rape: The Current International Jurisprudence, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Spring 2000)

Knight, Stephen, (co-author), Asylum for Victims of Gender Violence: An Overview of the Law, and an Analysis of 45 Unpublished Decisions, Immigration Briefings 03-12 (Dec. 2003)

-----, "Seeking Asylum from Gender Persecution: Progress amid Uncertainty," 79 Interpreter Releases 689 (May 13, 2002)
    (Copyright 2000 by West Group. Reprinted with permission of Interpreter Releases.)

----- (co-author), Steps Forward and Back: Uneven Progress in the Law of Social Group and Gender-Based Claims in the U.S.," 13 International Journal of Refugee Law 51 (2001)

----- (co-author), Gender-Based Asylum: An Analysis of Recent Trends, 77 Interpreter Releases 1533 (October 30, 2000).
    (Copyright 2000 by West Group. Reprinted with permission of Interpreter Releases.)

Lusby, Katherine, Hearing the Invisible Women of Political Rape: Using Oppositional Narrative to Tell A New War Story, 25 U. Tol. L. Rev. 911 (1995)

Macklin, Audrey, Women Refugees and the Imperative of Categories, 17 Human Rights Quarterly 213 (1995)

-----, Cross Border Shopping for Ideas: A Critical Review of United States, Canadian and Australian Approaches to Gender-Related Asylum Claims,
    13 Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 25 (1998)

Meron, Theodor, Rape as a Crime Under International Humanitarian Law, 87 Am. J. Int. L. 424 (1993)

Neal, David, Women as a Social Group: Recognizing Sex-Based Persecution as Grounds For Asylum, 20 Columbia Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 203 (1988)

Neacsu, E. Dana. Gender-based persecution as a basis for asylum: an annotated bibliography 1993-2002. 95 Law Lib. J. 191-216 (2003)

O'Connor, Hon Justice Deidre, Federal Court of Australia, "Contemporary Gender Issues in Refugee Law," International Association Of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ), Inaugural Meeting IARLJ, Australia/New Zealand Chapter - 10 March 2000

O'Neill, Caroline J. Health is a Human Right: Why the U.S. Immigration Law Response to Gender-Based Asylum Claims Requires More Attention to International Human Rights Norms, 17 J. Contemp. Health L. & Pol'y 241 (Winter 2000)

Porter, Amber Ann. The Role of Domestic Violence in the Consideration of Gender-based Asylum Claims: in re R-A-, an Antiquated Approach, 70 U. Cin. L. Rev. 315 (Fall 2001)

Ranck, Jody, Bibliography - Rights of Refugee Women ; Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley (Fall 1997)

Rho-Ng, Elizabeth. The Conscription of Asian Sex Slaves: Causes and Effects of U.S. Military Sex Colonialism in Thailand and the Call to Expand U.S. Asylum Law. 7 Asian L.J. 103-130 (2000)

Saso, Diane. The Devt of Gender-based asylum law: A Critique of the 1995 INS Guidelines. 8 Hast. Women's L. J. 263 (1997)

Schenk, Todd Stewart. A Proposal to Improve the Treatment of Women in Asylum Law: Adding a ‘Gender’ Category to the International Definition of ‘Refugee’

Seith, Patricia A. Escaping Domestic Violence: Asylum as a  Means of Protection for Battered Women, 97 Colum. L. Rev. 1804 (1997)

Schaffer, Haley. Domestic Violence and Asylum in the United States: In Re R- A-, 95 Nw. U.L. Rev. 779 (Winter 2001)

Shapiro, Hannah R. The Future of Spousal Abuse as a Gender-based Asylum Claim: the Implications of the Recent Case of Matter of R-A-, 14 Temp. Int'l & Comp. L.J. 463 (Fall 2000)

Sidun, Suzanne. An End to the Violence: Justifying Gender as a "Particular Social Group," 28 Pepp. L. Rev. 103 (2000)

Shor, Elizabeth. Domestic abuse and alien women in immigration law: response and responsibility. 9 Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 697-713 (2000)

Sinha, Anita. Domestic violence and U.S. asylum law: eliminating the "cultural hook" for claims involving gender-related persecution, 76 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1562-1598 (2001)

Strumpen-Darrie, Christine, Rape: A Survey of Current International Jurisprudence, 7 Human Rights Brief No. 3 (Spring 2000)

Thiele, Bret. Persecution on account of gender: a need for refugee law reform. 11 Hastings Women's L.J. 221-238 (2000)

U.S. Committee for Refugees, BIA Sends Mixed Messages on Gender Persecution Cases, Refugee Reports, Vol. 21 No. 8 (2000)

Von Sternberg, Mark. Battered Women and the Criteria for Refugee Status, in the  World Refugee Survey 40-47 (2000)

Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children, Prison Guard or Parent?: INS Treatment of Unaccompanied Refugee Children (May 2002)

-----, Behind Locked Doors: Abuse of Refugee Women at the Krome Detention Center (October 2000)

-----, Forgotten Prisoners: A Follow-Up Report on Refugee Women Incarcerated in York County, Pennsylvania (July 1998)

-----, Liberty Denied: Women Seeking Asylum Imprisoned in the United States (April 1997)

Wood, Alexi Nicole. A Cultural Rite of Passage or a Form of Torture: Female Genital Mutilation from an International Law Perspective, 12 Hastings Women's L.J. 347 (Summer 2001)

World Organization Against Torture: Violence Against Women (1999)

Young, Wendy A., U.S. Detention of Women Asylum Seekers: Failing to Practice What We Preach