The primary responsibility for refugees – and therefore for refugee status determination (RSD) – lies with States but UNHCR conducts RSD where States are unwilling or less able to do so. Over a 20-year period (1998–2018), there has been some…
One of the most notable recent shifts in the European Union’s asylum policy is the increasing role of the EU’s European Asylum Support Office (EASO)[1] in refugee status determination (RSD). Initially EASO’s mandate was heavily focused on activities such as…
The use of country guidance case law is now a well-established tool in refugee recognition in the UK, with lawyers, State decision-makers and independent judges using these determinations. There now exist over 300 country guidance cases relating to asylum seekers…
Appeals against negative refugee status determination (RSD) decisions are an essential component of fair asylum procedures and provide crucial oversight of the quality and accuracy of initial decisions. And yet, a worrying trend among signatories of the 1951 Refugee Convention…
Prior to 2013, responsibility for refugee status determination (RSD) in Greece, a major entry point to Europe for undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, traditionally lay with its police and the ministry responsible for public order. The country’s asylum system was…
The road to refugee status determination is often strewn with obstacles, involving multiple interviews and long waiting periods. When refugees are recognised on a group determination basis, the process becomes relatively more straightforward, and can be more efficient for all…
Brazil has offered two legal pathways for displaced Venezuelans who have entered the country since 2015. The first avenue entails residency permits and the second is through refugee status. Regularisation of Venezuelans’ legal status through the provision of residency permits…
In recent decades, the protection of refugees and the protection of stateless persons have largely been considered independently of each other. This is reflected in the development of separate legal instruments: the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1954 Statelessness Convention.[1]…
From 2002 onwards, populations facing recurrent socio-political unrest in the Central African Republic (CAR) have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, including Cameroon. This peaked in 2014, with the registration of almost 120,000 Central African refugees in the eastern part of…
Beginning in 2014, Italian authorities established ‘centres of extraordinary reception’ (CAS) across the country as an emergency measure to house asylum seekers. Intended as a temporary solution to a nearly fourfold increase in arrivals by sea between 2013 and 2014,…