Protecting Vulnerable Refugees: Procedural Fairness in the Australian Fast Track Regime

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily McDonald ◽  
Maria O'Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Fast Track ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Procedural Fairness ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Efficiency Measures ◽  
Application Procedure ◽  
Visa Application ◽  
High Standards

Refugee Status Determination is a powerful example of the way in which vulnerability and the law interact. This article examines this interaction by analysing a case study: the special protection visa application procedure in place for certain asylum seekers in Australia (the ‘Fast Track Assessment’ process) and the implications of this for procedural fairness. We conclude that the current legislative framework for the Fast Track Assessment process operates to exacerbate the circumstances of vulnerability of asylum seekers. Efficiency measures are an important way of avoiding delays in decision-making. However it also increases the propensity of such measures to lead to serious legal errors. Considering the serious consequences of an improperly made decision in this context, we argue that high standards of procedural fairness and an oral hearing are required. The article also demonstrates that a central purpose of due process should be to mitigate (rather than exacerbate) circumstances of vulnerability or marginalisation.

scholarly journals Inconsistencies in repeated refugee status decisions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Pärnamets ◽  
Alexander Tagesson ◽  
Annika Wallin
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Civil Servant ◽  
Affective Responses ◽  
Significant Decline ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Seeking Safety ◽  
Active Regulation ◽  
Governmental Intervention ◽  
Emotional Demands ◽  
Over Time

Consistency in civil servant decisions is paramount to upholding judicial equality for citizens and individuals seeking safety through governmental intervention. We investigated refugee status decisions made by a sample of civil servants at the Swedish Migration Agency. We hypothesized, based on the emotional demands such decisions bring with them, that participants would exhibit a compassion fade effect such that refugee status was less likely to be granted over time. To test this, we administered a questionnaire containing brief presentations of asylum seekers and asked participants to judge how likely they would be to give refugee status to the person. Crucially the first, middle and final case presented were matched on decision relevant characteristics. Consistent with our hypothesis we saw a significant decline in ratings. These effects were accentuated by the amount of time a participant had worked at the agency, consistent with depletion of affective resources, and attenuated in workers with greater responsibility and additional training. We conclude that active regulation of empathic and affective responses to asylum seekers may play a role in determining the outcome in refugee status decisions.

scholarly journals The Psycho-Social Conditions of Asylum-Seekers from Darfur in Israel

Refuge ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vered Slonim-Nevo ◽  
Shirley Regev ◽  
Yiftach Millo
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Functioning ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Standardized Measures ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Migration Trauma ◽  
Dsm Iv ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
State Of Israel

ObjectiveThe study appraises the prevalence of pre-migration trauma exposure, the ability to secure basic living needs, and psychological functioning among Darfuri asylumseekers and refugees living in Israel. MethodThe sample included 340 adults from Darfur. Standardized measures assessing socio-psychological functioning were utilized. Results The participants demonstrated high rates of pre-migration exposure to traumatic experiences. Thirty per cent of the participants met DSM–IV criteria PTSD, with a higher proportion for women than for men. Post-migration stressors were mentioned by the majority of the participants. ConclusionsThe State of Israel should recognize past atrocities and traumas of Darfuris who arrived in Israel. Such recognition should be offered as acceptance of their rightful access to refugee status determination. Moreover, the State of Israel needs to modify government policies and legalization facilities so that Darfuri refugees and asylum-seekers will have access to basic human needs and support services.

Canadian Exclusion Jurisprudence post-Febles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly Joeck
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Status ◽  
International Refugee Law

Abstract This article examines the state of Canadian refugee law since the decision of the Supreme Court in Febles v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) [2014] 3 SCR 431. Drawing upon an analysis of a set of decisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board, the administrative tribunal tasked with refugee status determination in Canada, the article seeks to determine whether administrative decision makers are heeding the guidance of Febles when excluding asylum seekers from refugee protection on the basis of serious criminality pursuant to article 1F(b) of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. In doing so, it examines the controversy around article 1F(b) since its inception across various jurisdictions and amongst academic commentators, situating Febles within that controversy in order to demonstrate that the Supreme Court’s reluctance to clearly set out the purpose underlying article 1F(b) is in step with a longstanding tendency to understand the provision as serving a gatekeeping function, that prevents criminalized non-citizens from obtaining membership in our society. It argues that by omitting to set out a clear and principled standard by which asylum seekers can be excluded from refugee protection pursuant to article 1F(b), the Supreme Court failed to live up to a thick understanding of the rule of law. It concludes by calling for a reassertion of the rule of law into exclusion decision making, both nationally and internationally, in order to ensure that the legitimacy of the international refugee law regime is maintained.

Unintended asylum seekers: Bangladeshi probashi from Libya to Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34
Author(s):  
Nicoletta Del Franco
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Migration Flow ◽  
Uncertain Environment ◽  
Reception System ◽  
Bangladeshi Migrants

This paper focuses on Bangladeshi migrants, who have recently reached Italy from Libya. It discusses the results of fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2018 with Bangladeshi asylum seekers living in the Parma area who are, or havebeen, hosted in emergency reception centers called CAS (Centri di Accoglienza Straordinaria). The aim of this paper isto explore the characteristics of this recent migration flow and to examine how migrants navigate the country’s formalreception system, adapting to and at the same time manipulating it. Migrants face a legal and political regime that is quitedifferent from that of the 1990s and early 2000s. In order to secure refugee status, they find themselves caught up in astate-managed, complex reception system. Despite being in a weak and precarious position they move tactically in anunstable and uncertain environment to suit their life objectives.

4. Due process

2021 ◽  
pp. 125-169
Author(s):  
Timothy Endicott
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Procedural Fairness ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Natural Justice ◽  
Administrative Agencies ◽  
The Law

This chapter explains the overlapping ideas of natural justice, procedural fairness, and due process, and discusses the importance of comity between judges and administrative agencies. The elements of process are outlined: notice and disclosure, oral hearings, waiver, reconsideration, and appeals. Proportionality is presented as a general principle of the procedural duties of public authorities, and the chapter explains the three process values: procedural requirements can improve decisions, treat people with respect, and subject the administration to the rule of law. The chapter explains the irony of process: the law must sometimes require procedures that impose disproportionate burdens on administrative authorities, in order to protect due process. The chapter concludes with an explanation of discretion in process and of the potential dangers involved in administrative processes.

“The Problem of Witchcraft”: Violence and the Supernatural in Global African Refugee Mobilities

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 660-682
Author(s):  
Katherine Luongo
Keyword(s):  
Social Group ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Refugee Convention ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
African Refugee ◽  
Push Factor

Abstract:Over the last two decades, witchcraft violence has emerged steadily as a “push factor” for African asylum seekers who argue that being accused of witchcraft or targeted with witchcraft renders them members of a “particular social group” (PSG), subject to persecution and eligible for refugee protection under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. This article examines the refugee status determination (RSD) processes through which immigration regimes in Canada and Australia have adjudicated allegations about witchcraft violence made by asylum seekers from across Anglophone Africa. It critiques the utility of expanding PSG along cultural lines without a commensurate expansion in adjudicators’ knowledge.

Asylum at Sea: The Legality of Shipboard Refugee Status Determination Procedures

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Azadeh Dastyari ◽  
Daniel Ghezelbash
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
State Practice ◽  
International Obligations

Abstract Austria and Italy have recently proposed that processing the protection claims of asylum seekers attempting to cross the Mediterranean should take place aboard government vessels at sea. Shipboard processing of asylum claims is not a novel idea. The policy has been used for many years by the governments of the United States and Australia. This article examines the relevant international law, as well as State practice and domestic jurisprudence in the United States and Australia, to explore whether shipboard processing complies with international refugee and human rights law. It concludes that, while it may be theoretically possible for shipboard processing to comply with international law, there are significant practical impediments to carrying out shipboard processing in a manner that is compliant with the international obligations of States. Current practices in the United States and Australia fall short of what is required. Nor is there any indication that the Austrian/Italian proposal would contain the required safeguards. It is argued that this is by design. The appeal of shipboard processing for governments is that it allows them to dispense with the safeguards that asylum seekers would be entitled to if processed on land. Best practice is for all persons interdicted or rescued at sea to be transferred to a location on land where they have access to effective status determination procedures and are protected from refoulement and unlawful detention.

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