Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-04T14:31:35.171Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4.2 - Summary Conclusions: membership of a particular social group, expert roundtable, San Remo, September 2001

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2009

Erika Feller
Affiliation:
Director Department of International Protection with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva
Volker Türk
Affiliation:
Chief of the Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section of UNHCR's Department of International Protection in Geneva
Frances Nicholson
Affiliation:
Research and editorial consultant on refugee protection and human rights issues
Erika Feller
Affiliation:
UNHCR, Geneva
Volker Türk
Affiliation:
UNHCR, Geneva
Frances Nicholson
Affiliation:
UNHCR, Geneva
Get access

Summary

The San Remo Expert Roundtable addressed the question of the meaning of ‘membership of a particular social group’ in the refugee definition, as contained in the1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The discussion was based on a background paper by T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Migration Policy Institute and University of Georgetown, entitled ‘“Membership in a Particular Social Group”: Analysis and Proposed Conclusions’. In addition, roundtable participants were provided with written contributions from Justice Lory Rosenberg, United States Board of Immigration Appeals, Deborah Anker, Harvard Law School, and James C. Hathaway, University of Michigan, and subsequent comments were received from the US Government, and Joan Fitzpatrick, University of Washington. Participants included thirty-three experts from twenty-three countries, drawn from governments, NGOs, academia, the judiciary, and the legal profession. Lee Anne de la Hunt, from the University of Cape Town Legal Aid Clinic, moderated the discussion.

The following summary conclusions do not represent the individual views of each participant or necessarily of UNHCR, but reflect broadly the understandings emerging from the discussion.

  1. The membership of a particular social group ground is the Convention ground with the least clarity. Varying interpretations have been given to it in different jurisdictions, with two dominant approaches having been developed in common law jurisdictions – those of protected characteristics and social perception. In civil law jurisdictions, this ground is less developed, with more focus placedon the interpretation of persecution and on the other four grounds. […]

Type
Chapter
Information
Refugee Protection in International Law
UNHCR's Global Consultations on International Protection
, pp. 312 - 313
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×