Know the following terms cases and legal concepts How international refugee law evolved 1st came into action in 1939 St Louis o 900 German Jews decided to go flee to Cuba by the time they arrive to Cuba the regime had changed they are told to turn around go somewhere else They planned to go to Miami but FDR would block the St Louis to keep them from coming in They eventually went back to Europe were most of them died in concentration camps o Referred to as the voyage of the damn 1945 Communism o There was a dilemma of communism thousands of people who attempted to flee couldn t be dealt with The young UN didn t quite know how to handle it 1951 UN Convention on Refugees 1 it had to define a refugee say what their rights are 2 it had to define what are the obligations of the governments to people who flee into their countries 1967 US signs ratifies it This treaty establishes Non refoulement this is the corner stone of refugee law which means refugees will not be sent back to a country where their lives liberty will be at risk The definition of a refugee Refugee is a person outside of their country with a well founded fear of persecution in that country on account of their race religion nationality political opinion or particular social group Types of people excluded from the refugee definition 1 Internally displaced people People that have not left their home country To be considered a refugee you have to be outside your country UN added this because they didn t want to intervene to help people under this category 2 People seeking economic gains A lot of Haitians face this problem because they have to prove themselves since their country is a developing nation 3 Those fleeing general types of violence In order to be a refugee you have to show an individualized fear of persecution This does not include civil war war zone etc 4 Those fleeing natural disasters Asylum is reserved for those facing individualized persecutions The concept of non refoulement Non refoulement means that refugees will not be sent back to a country where their lives liberty will be at risk Options countries have in refugee protection 1 Refugee Camps Countries can keep refugees in camps they don t have to let them in give them permanent residency 2 Repatriation Allow the refugee to stay until conditions in their home country improve This is what was done in Rwanda when Tutsis went into neighboring countries after the war was over they were repatriated into their country similar to Mexico during their civil war 3 Third Safe Country option take the refugees send them into another country that will take care of them Refugees are however being treated as commodities where trading deals have been made if countries are willing to take refugees in 4 Accept refuges give them refugee status for 1year then they are allowed to apply for permanent residency and after 5 years apply for citizenship This is the U S s policy is considered the best policy in the world They do have to prove that they are being persecuted The 1980 Refugee Act This act would make the UN Convention of Refugees a law in the U S The policies of the conventions must be followed The nexus requirement In order to gain refugee status you must prove that you are being personally persecuted under one of the five enumerated grounds race religion nationality political opinion or participation in a particular social group Examples of the 5 enumerated grounds These grounds limited ways that someone can obtain an Asylum Slavery based on the color of your skin or due to your ethnicity 1 Race color or ethnic group 2 Religion If the government prohibits a religion or if they punish people of a particular religion Asylums have to show that they are legitimately pursuing that religion not just for the purpose of seeking asylum 3 Nationality When their own country persecutes someone because they are from a different nationality Kurds in Iraq were considered to be their own nationality as well Vietnamese living in Cambodia during the genocide 4 Political Opinion 2 types of cases a When you have a political opinion that is not tolerated It is about your individual believes you can be persecuted for you don t have to be involved in a political party b Imputed political beliefs meaning something that the persecutor assumes you believe whether you do or not 5 PSG Particular Social Group Any kind of social group to which one belongs typically it is connected to immutable grounds Definition of Immutable being characteristics you either cannot or should not have to change For instance people from a royal family families in general HIV positive individuals gay transgender groups etc Gender is not considered to be a social group because it is not small enough Because of this women have been subjected to risk You have to show that you are a woman from a particular tribe or religion or family What makes the Particular Social Group category unique This category has to be clearly defined must fit certain dimensions in order to limit the number of people seeking asylum The definition cannot be too vague or too specific Credible fear hearings In a case where seekers come in with false documentation a low level officer will give them 15 mins to tell the immigration officer what they are afraid of They have to show that there is a possibility that they could apply for asylum The challenge of this is that the seekers don t know any laws that could help them That person is sent back if they can t show the possibility for them to gain asylum Statistics are unknown of how many are turned away Some times their fear might be of a person in a uniform and the officer taking their hearing might be in one Bond hearings If they get through the credible hearing they will receive this 4 things must be showed to get bonded out to not be held while waiting for trial Must show that they have families friends to stay with They have to show they will not be a threat to the community Prove that it s likely that you will show up for your immigration hearing by paying a bond from 3000 20 000 cash to the court which they don t get back until after the hearing They usually stay detained while waiting for an immigration court hearing because they don t have these requirements Asylum hearings Once in trial if they are lucky they will get a lawyer if not it will just be a single prosecutor without a jury 2 parts o Direct examination where the refugee lawyer throws softball questions where they tell their
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