Adjudication of asylum claims (refugee status determination / asylum procedures) / Blood feuds

Heard at Glasgow (Eagle Building) on 7 May 2008. The guidance in SM and Others (Kurds - Protection - Relocation) Iraq CG [2005] UKIAT 00111 regarding relocation of a Kurd from the KRG to central or southern Iraq is confirmed.

15 December 2008 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Asylum and Immigration Tribunal / Immigration Appellate Authority | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Blood feuds - Complementary forms of protection - Country of origin information (COI) - Criminal justice - Evidence (including age and language assessments / medico-legal reports) - Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment - Honour killings - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Kurd | Countries: Iraq - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The Refugee Status Appeals Authority reaffirmed in this decision New Zealand jurisprudence on the internal protection alternative, holding that even were it free to do so, it would not follow the decisions of the House of Lords in Januzi v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2006] 2 AC 426 and AH (Sudan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] 3 WLR 832 which facilitate the withholding of recognition of refugee status. The Authority emphasized that such withholding of recognition can only occur in a highly limited class of case where (a) the proposed internal protection alternative is accessible to the individual. This requires that the access be practical, safe and legal; (b) in the proposed site of internal protection there is no risk of being persecuted for a Convention reason; (c) in the proposed site of internal protection there are no new risks of being persecuted or of being exposed to other forms of serious harm or of refoulement; and finally, (d) in the proposed site of internal protection basic norms of civil, political and socio-economic rights will be provided by the State. The Authority has also declined to follow the two recent decisions of the High Court of Australia in SZATV v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (2007) 237 ALR 634 and SZFDV v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (2007) 237 ALR 660. In these two decisions the "protection" element of the refugee definition in Article 1A(2) was interpreted as "diplomatic protection".

In this decision, addressing honour killings in Turkey, the Authority also held that the political opinion ground was the most appropriate Convention ground on which the claim succeeded. The Authority has made important observations about gender in the context of the political opinion ground and the need for that ground to receive a gender-sensitive interpretation. It concluded that "honour" enforces rigid control by men over women and their sexuality. It is about policing community norms and codes of behaviour, collective decisions and acts of punishment. Ultimately, it is about the distribution and exercise of power in Turkish society. The observance of honour reflects the gendered inequality of power in that society. In the specific context the Authority was satisfied that the claimant's assertion of her right to life and of her right to control her life and her challenge to inequality and the structures of power which support it, was plainly "political" as that term is used in the Refugee Convention.

11 September 2008 | Judicial Body: New Zealand: Refugee Status Appeals Authority | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Blood feuds - Country of origin information (COI) - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Kurd - Persecution based on political opinion - Social group persecution - State protection - Well-founded fear of persecution | Countries: New Zealand - Turkey

On appeal from the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT No: AA/08922/2006).

19 June 2008 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Court of Appeal (England and Wales) | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Blood feuds - Credibility assessment - Non-state agents of persecution - Racial / Ethnic persecution - Roma - Social group persecution - State protection | Countries: Albania - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

21 May 2008 | Judicial Body: Australia: Federal Court | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Blood feuds - Credibility assessment - Criminal justice - Military service / Conscientious objection / Desertion / Draft evasion / Forced conscription - Persecution based on political opinion - Persecution of family members - Rule of law / Due process / Procedural fairness - Social group persecution | Countries: Australia - Serbia

On appeal from the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT No. AA/10981/2006).

8 April 2008 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Court of Appeal (England and Wales) | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Appeal / Right to appeal - Asylum policy - Blood feuds - Right to family life - Unaccompanied / Separated children | Countries: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Yemen

5 December 2007 | Publisher: Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal | Document type: Query Responses