CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2012
| Author | Bóbis, Zsolt |
|---|---|
| Title | YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU OUGHT TO BE: Credibility Assessment in Sexuality-Based Asylum Cases |
| Summary | Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom have exhibited similar approaches in the adjudication of refugee claims based on sexual orientation. On the positive side, they all have included LGBT people in the scope of the 1951 Refugee Convention predominantly as members of a “particular social group.” Moreover, they all have discredited the so-called discretion requirement that used to have a deleterious effect on the interpretation of “persecution” in LGBT cases. Nonetheless, the progress achieved by these developments is at the risk of being undermined by the increasing trend of disbelief in the claimant’s sexual orientation in all three jurisdictions. This thesis argues that the substantial room that these countries allow for personal biases and convictions to play a determinative role during credibility assessment in the refugee status determination procedure easily disadvantages LGBT claimants. The reason for this is adjudicators’ lack of knowledge of the particular situation of LGBT people, their lack of empathy for their problems as well as certain claimants’ inability to live up to Western expectations of a global gay identity. Relying on UNHCR and UKBA guidance materials, this thesis demonstrates what it considers as the most outstanding (substantive and procedural) problems during the credibility assessment process through administrative-level decisions and practices. The paper arrives at the conclusion that stereotypical views can often prevent genuine LGBT claimants to be granted refugee status. This situation, however, can and should be remedied by providing decision-makers with both written guidelines and regular training sessions that specifically address issues that are likely to arise in sexuality-based claims. |
| Supervisor | Uitz, Renata; Polgari, Eszter |
| Department | Legal Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2012/bobis_zsolt.pdf |
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