Defining a Particular Social Group Based on Gender
Date
1997-10
Authors
Adjin-Tettey, Elizabeth
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
York University, Centre for Refugee Studies
Abstract
It is now accepted in refugee jurisprudence
that gender-based social groups
fall within the meaning of Particular
Social Group for purposes of according
Convention refugee protection. However,
the criteria for iden tifyinggenderbased
social groups remains to be
settled. The tendency has been to identify
the at-risk group by the common
victimization which confronts group
members. This is neither innatenorconstant.
The author takes the position that
thegroup should simply be identified by
the gender of its members-women, although
there may be subgroups of
women united by other characteris tics
suchas race, nationality or religion. Not
all group members will automatically
be eligible for refugee protection; only
women who aregenuinely at risk of persecution
will be accorded Convention
refugee status.
Description
This is a post-print version of this paper, published in Refuge, (1997) 16(4) pp.22-25.
Keywords
Citation
Elizabeth Adjin-Tettey, "Defining a Particular Social Group Based on Gender” (1997) 16(4) Refuge 22-25.