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.
Read More
Aug17
Support for Refugees with Disabilities and Other Specific Health Care Needs
August 17, 2018
Chapters 2 and 3 of the 1951 Refugee Convention enumerate the rights granted to recognized refugees. Many of those rights—public education, association, gainful employment, etc., cannot be realized if Member States do not provide accommodations for disabilities.
Read More
Jul24
A Review of the Attorney General’s Review(s)
U.S., July 24, 2018
Sessions’ Matter of A-B- decision, together with previous decisions, ignores the plight of refugees fleeing gang and domestic violence in Southern and Central America and violates international obligations.
Read More
Jul10
Taking Subjectivity Out of the Serious Harm Determination
July 10, 2018
The Sixth Circuit should have carefully laid out a standard for serious harm instead of simply rejecting the violation of a human right as an insufficient basis for granting asylum.
Read More
Jun22
Contemplating a Forcible Return to Syria
June 22, 2018
The Illegality and Immorality of Returning Syrian Refugees Against Their Will.
Read More
Jun16
Refugee Status Determination by South Pacific Island Countries: Legal Overview, Recent Developments, and a Brief Critique
June 16, 2018
South Pacific island countries should carefully consider the legal and ethical issues relating to Australia’s practice of offshore asylum processing and the role they play in this practice.
Read More
Jun1
Anti-Gang/Guerrilla Opinions are Political Opinions
June 1, 2018
[W]hen adjudicators fail to recognize these opinions as political, they deny some deserving applicants protection the Convention guarantees.
Read More
May29
Refugee Law in Ecuador: An Interview with Liliya Paraketsova, 2017 PRAL Fellow
Ecuador, May 29, 2018
On March 22, 2018, RefLaw Associate Editor Sam Kulhanek interviewed Liliya Paraketsova, a 2017 Fellow of the Michigan Law Program in Refugee and Asylum Law (PRAL), about her experience working with the Asylum Access regional office for Latin America in Ecuador. What follows is an edited version of that interview. The views and opinions represented are solely Liliya's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Asylum Access.
Read More
May1
The Inclusion of a Subjective Component in “Well-Founded Fear” and the Insufficiency of Strict Textualism
May 1, 2018
The United States Supreme Court should revisit its language requiring the assessment of the applicant’s subjective emotional state when determining whether that applicant meets the “well-founded fear” test.
Read More
Mar31
Merging Sociology and Law: How Social Construction of Identity May Explain Differing Treatment of Women and Gay People as Social Groups in Refugee Law
March 31, 2018
The core differences in the social construction of gender and sexual orientation may explain the differing treatment of women and gay people in refugee law. Women are not seen as distinct individuals, while gay individuals' identities are not merged with a spouse or children.
Read More