Related Papers
Frontiers in human dynamics
The influence of international criminal law on refugee law
2023 •
Joseph Rikhof
International Journal on Minority and Group Rights
Exclusion Law and International Law: Sui Generis or Overlap?
2013 •
Joseph Rikhof
There exists a strong synergy between the regulation at the international level of minority rights, asylum and criminal prosecutions of violations of human rights. The aspirations of minorities as a human right are recognised in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights while the violation of such a right can confer on a victim the status of refugee in a third country. As well, persons who are responsible for causing very serious disruptions to the rights of minorities and other groups can be brought to justice for the commission of genocide and crimes against humanity, particularly persecution. While in general there has been a clear distinction between the granting of asylum or refugee status to victims of persecution one hand and the prosecution of perpetrators of persecution on the other, these two notions have been brought together into the concept of exclusion in order to address the phenomenon of persons with a criminal background being part of the refugee stre...
Laws
Protected Groups in Refugee Law and International Law
2019 •
Laws MDPI
The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (“Refugee Convention”) defines ‘persecution’ based on five enumerated grounds: race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, and political opinion. This list of protected groups has not changed in the nearly 70 years since its inception, although the political and social context that gave rise to the Refugee Convention has changed. This article examines how ‘membership in a particular social group’ (“MPSG”) has been interpreted, then surveys international human rights law, transnational criminal law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law instruments to determine whether MPSG can encompass the broader protections afforded under other international law regimes. It concludes that the enumerated grounds are largely consistent with other instruments and protects, or at least has the potential to protect, many of the other categories through MPSG. However, as this ground is subject to d...
Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees
Access, Asylum and Atrocities: An Unholy Alliance?
2001 •
Joseph Rikhof
This article explores the international and Canadian dimensions of the crossroads between criminal law on one hand and the immigration and refugee law on the other, with special emphasis on the regulation and jurisprudence regarding criminal activities such as terrorism, organized crime, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. In addition to examining the context of international policy and the international criminal law in this area, the article also describes in detail the Canadian case-law in relation to the sections in the Immigration Act that address these types of serious criminality, such as the admissibility provisions and the exclusion clauses. At the same time, the policy of the Canadian government is coming to grips with its international obligations when dealing with persons involved in such criminal activities.
Journal of Civil & Legal Sciences
The Supreme Court of Canada's Decision in Ezokola and the Harmonisation of Article 1f (A) of the Convention of the Status of Refugees and International Criminal Law
2014 •
Alan Freckelton
The Refugee Convention´s Exclusion Clause: Application and Ambiguities
2015 •
Rastislav Šutek
The paper evaluates the application of the Refugee Convention's exclusion clause under art. 1F taking into account travaux préparatoires on the Convention, major case law of asylum authorities applying and interpreting the clause and the Refugee Agency's guidelines on application of the exclusion clause. The introductory section briefly touches the core language of art. 1F and the scope of its application within ratione loci and ratione temporis. Further subchapters examine in detail particular grounds for exclusion under subpara. (a) to (c). Notable space is devoted to acts of terrorism and interpretation of the exclusion clause's provisions on this matter. The following chapter begins with a summary of standard of proof regarding the exclusion clause and the paper finishes with a few concluding remarks on the applicability of the exclusion clause to the International Criminal Court's acquitted defendants.
Journal of International Criminal Justice
Complicity in International Criminal Law and Canadian Refugee Law: A Comparison
2006 •
Joseph Rikhof
Journal of International Criminal Justice
Harmonizing Exclusion under the Refugee Convention by Reference to the Evidentiary Standards of International Criminal Law
Mathias Holvoet
63 years after the adoption of the Refugee Convention, much uncertainty persists about the exact interpretation of the evidentiary 'serious reasons for considering' standard of proof to be applied for exclusion decisions under Article 1(F)(a) of the Refugee Convention. This uncertainty is to be deplored, because it creates unpredictability and puts allegedly criminal asylum seekers in an unequal position vis-à-vis each other, which may result in 'forum shopping'. To counter further fragmentation, the author argues that national courts and authorities, when deciding in cases of exclusion, should draw upon the 'reasonable grounds to believe' threshold for the issuing of an arrest warrant or summons to appear in the Rome Statute, which, prima facie, can be equated with the 'serious reasons for considering' standard.
Terrorism and Asylum (RLI Working Paper Series Mini-volume)
2019 •
Anita Rozália Nagy-Nádasdi
Contents 31. Introduction (page 1) Guest editor: James C. Simeon 32. Refugees, terrorism and Article 1 of the Refugee Convention (page 6) Patricia Tuitt 33. An introduction to the common security narrative of terrorism and asylum and its influence on Austrian migration law (page 17) Julia Kienast 34. The fight against terrorism and the need for international protection: the Hungarian solution (page 32) Barbara Kőhalmi and Anita Rozalia Nagy-Nadasdi 35. Manufacturing fear: The social component of anti-immigration policies in the United States (page 46) Selina March 36. Terrorism and exclusion from asylum in international and national law (page 56) James C. Simeon
Terrorism and Asylum Mini Volume
Manufacturing fear: The social component of anti-immigration policies in the United States
2019 •
Selina March
There is no doubt that the Western world has seen a rise of anti-immigration movements over the past few years, and the United States is a prime example of that. Immigration was a key issue in the 2016 presidential elections, and continues to be a widely discussed and debated topic that reaches far beyond the political world. Although this anti-immigration sentiment is not exclusively linked to the fear of terrorism, much of it does find its basis in fear-mongering which links terrorism with immigration. The plight of asylum seekers, particularly those from Muslim-majority countries, has been swept up in this tide, evidenced by hard-line policies that attempt to limit the number of refugees accepted by the United States, as well as where those refugees may originate from. Although such policies have been met with legal challenges, support for them can be seen in parts of the general US populace, proving that such policies are not purely driven by political forces. This paper asserts that the Trump campaign and administration has employed targeted strategies in a concerted effort to advance a culturally racist belief that refugees from Muslim-majority countries are a security threat in an effort to codify this belief through anti-refugee legislation. The analysis centres on how the Trump campaign and administration has used fear of terrorism and a blurring of lines between migrants and refugees to stoke anti-refugee sentiment in the USA, and examines the weight of the social component in driving policy against the legal hurdles that these anti-refugee policies have faced to date. Specifically, the analysis draws on critical race theory to examine Trump’s use of the news, political statements and social media to advance this narrative, and how the interplay between cultural and institutional racism influences anti-refugee sentiment and policy.
