Recent Relevant UNHCR Guidelines:

Guidelines on International Protection: The Application of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol to the Status of Refugees to victims of trafficking and persons at risk of being trafficked (HCR/GIP/06/07, 7 April 2006).

Guidelines on International Protection: Gender-Related Persecution (HCR/GIP/02/01, 7 May 2002)

Guidelines on International Protection: Membership in a Particular Social Group (HCR/GIP/02/02, 7 May 2002).

UNHCR Amicus in Thomas (family - social group)

Executive Committee Conclusions:

Conclusion No. 73 (1993) - Refugee Women and Sexual Violence

Conclusion No. 64 (1990) - Refugee Women and International Protection

Conclusion No. 60 (1989) - Refugee Women

Conclusion No. 54 (1988) - Refugee Women

Conclusion No. 39 (1985) - Refugee Women and International Protection

Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status (HCR/IP/4/Eng/REV.1 1992) in [PDF] or [HTML]

On non-governmental persecution, see paragraph 65:

"Persecution is normally related to action by the authorities of a country. It may also emanate from sections of the population that do not respect the standards established by the laws of the country concerned. A case in point may be religious intolerance, amounting to persecution, in a country otherwise secular, but where sizeable fractions of the population do not respect the religious beliefs of their neighbours. Where serious discriminatory or other offensive acts are committed by the local populace, they can be considered as persecution if they are knowingly tolerated by the authorities, or if the authorities refuse, or prove unable, to offer effective protection."

Guidelines on the Protection of Refugee Women: Legal Procedures and Criteria for the Determination of Refugee Status, UN Doc. ES/SCP/67 (1991)

Iran - Homosexual man as member of "social group" (1993)
Iran - Sexual Orientation as member of “social group” (1996)

Brief as Intervenor in Islam (A.P.) v. Secretary of State and Regina v. Immigration Appeal Tribunal and Another Ex Parte Shah (A.P.) [1999] 2 W.L.R. 1015.

UNHCR Research/Evaluation

Regional Office for the U.S. and Caribbean, Asylum Advocates Focus on Domestic Violence (September 1999)

See UNHCR's page on Refugee Women

Bemma Donkoh, Deputy Regional Representative, UNHCR (Washington), Domestic Violence in the Context of the Refugee Definition (Carnegie Institute for International Affairs, July 26, 1999)

Other UN

Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, G.A. Res. 48/104, U.N. GAOR, 48th Sess, Supp. No. 49, at 217, UN Doc. A/48/49/(1993)

Division for the Advancement of Women, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) -- the treaty and other official documents, documentation related to women's issues, and the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

DAW makes available extensive country-specific information on CEDAW implementation, including National Action Plans, Country Reports, and questionnaire responses (text only)

Documentation Research Guide

Economic and Social Council, Preliminary Report Submitted by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Its Causes and Consequences, 50th Session of the Commission on Human Rights and Violence against Women (November 22, 1994)

High Commissioner for Human Rights, Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women - many documents and links

Human Rights Gateway

Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Gender-Based Persecution, United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, UN Doc. EGM/GBP/1997/Report (1997)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Its Causes and Consequences, ESCOR Commission on Human Rights, 52nd Sess., Provisional Agenda Item 9(a), UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/53 (1996)

Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Its Causes and Consequences, ESCOR Commission on Human Rights, 55th Sess., Provisional Agenda Item 12(a), UN Doc. E/CN.4/1999/68 (1999)

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: Women's Rights Are Human Rights

UN Commission on the Status of Women -- established in 1946 to prepare recommendations and reports to the Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields.

WomenWatch - The UN Internet gateway to information on the advancement and empowerment of women. Includes links to UN entities, intergovernmental and treaty bodies, international instruments, UN Global Conferences on Women, national action plans, events, selected NGO sites of interest on global women’s human rights.

The World Health Organization's page on Women.