Jan18
Will the Family Unit Remain the “Quintessential” Particular Social Group in the United States?
United States, January 18, 2019
Samantha Kulhanek Second-year student at the University of Michigan Law School Taking his lead from Jeff Sessions and his infamous Matter of A-B- decision, acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker...
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Dec21
Circular Security: Cameroon’s Return of Nigerian Refugees is Bad Law and Bad Policy
December 21, 2018
Cameroon has taken to expelling refugees seeking relief from violence at the hands of Boko Haram on the pretense of national security, fearing that Boko Haram has infiltrated its borders. Cameroon’s mass expulsions without more process for individuals violates the country’s obligations under the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Furthermore, there is little evidence that this policy effectively enhances national or regional security.
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Nov24
Asylum Meters & Bans: Trump’s New Border Regime Violates the United States’ Duties under International Refugee Law
November 24, 2018
The Trump administration is metering the number of individuals who are allowed to enter the United States and apply for asylum at points of entry, and prohibiting anyone who enters unlawfully without inspection from receiving asylum. This new border regime violates the United States' obligations under the 1967 Protocol to not refoul refugees to unsafe countries and not punish refugees for unlawful entrance.
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Nov12
Towards a Less Arbitrary Unequal: Designating Last Habitual Residence in Stateless Asylum Claims in the U.S.
United States, November 12, 2018
The consistent reference approach to CFHR is a more balanced way to adjudicate stateless applicants. The consistent approach may also aid in keeping well-founded fear and protection inquiries separate.
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Oct19
Climate change and international refugee law: A predicament approach
October 19, 2018
Lauren Nishimura RefLaw, Editorial Advisory Panel Oxford University, Doctoral Candidate Climate change is a reality, producing both extreme weather events like cyclones and storms and slower processes like drought, salinization,...
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Sep28
The Government’s Role in Domestic Violence: A different take on nexus formation
September 28, 2018
The United State’s current asylum framework protects those who are persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Should it extend to those who are denied state protection on those grounds?
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Sep21
The Plight of the Rohingya
Myanmar, September 21, 2018
The international community cannot assume that Myanmar will uphold its responsibility to this stateless ethnic group. In light of the Myanmar Government’s historical persecution and recent ethnic cleansing campaign of Rohingya people, the Rohingya are de facto refugees under the UNHCR mandate and require ongoing international protection.
Read More“Regional Disembarkation Platforms” and “Controlled Centres”: Lifting The Drawbridge, Reaching out Across The Mediterranean, or Going Nowhere?
European Union, September 14, 2018
Assuming that the EU and the EUMS are committed to respecting international and EU law, and that they don’t plan to upend the institutional structure of the CEAS by establishing common processing centres offshore, no “game changers” are within easy reach. As shown, Regional Disembarkation Platforms (RDPs) are highly unlikely to add anything of substance to the EU’s already extensive “externalization toolbox.” Controlled Centres (CCs) in EUMS, for their part, are unlikely to ever take off absent predictable solidarity arrangements (as opposed to: fuzzy solidarity promises). This supposed exit from Europe’s solidarity conundrum leads, in fact, back around to it.
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Aug31
The Spanish-Moroccan border: Forgotten refugee zone
August 31, 2018
This article analyzes the practices of Spain and Morocco towards refugees near the Hispano-Moroccan borders and aims to better understand not only the illegality of “hot returns” and repression toward refugees, but also the ways in which the European Union (“EU”) accomplishes and perpetuates the externalization of its borders to North Africa.
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Aug24
The Issue of Our Generation: An Interview with Lara Finkbeiner, Deputy Legal Director, International Refugee Assistance Project
August 24, 2018
On July 10, 2018 RefLaw Managing Editor Kara Naseef interviewed International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) Deputy Legal Director, Lara Finkbeiner about recent developments in international refugee law. What follows is an edited version of that interview.
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