#asylos

[tearsofrefugees]

Palestine (Gaza): United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

Asylos' new report Country of Origin Information (COI) on Palestine, Gaza: UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refug

[oifaaa]

No dig taken :D Jason deserves to have any weapon he would like, and would probably be very good using it.

I am, of course, now picturing the crowbar in spandex and a mask with an arrow drawn at it “most hated”.

I am printing out a picture of the crowbar so I can hang it on a "do not serve" esc wall so everyone that comes into my house knows they're not allowed to praise the crowbar in my house

[thirtysixsavefiles]

@angryonabus >:)

@asylos it's the last track of the Phantoms album by Marianas Trench. PHENOMENAL album, and the last track is just *chef's kiss*

It will also be forever in my heart entangled with TMA because it's the soundtrack this animatic (youtube link), which is so, so stunning (spoilers for all 5 seasons of TMA)

[thirtysixsavefiles]

@asylos yessssssss excellent :D

I have to say that the next episode up for you is a REAL good one. Definitely worth the wait. :D

[ff7central]

The Cat Cafe

(840 words)

by Asylos

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife Characters: Sephiroth (Compilation of FFVII), Cloud Strife Additional Tags: Meet-Cute, Cat Cafés, Alternate Universe

Summary:

Cloud's usual visit to the cat cafe goes a little differently this week when he's not the only patron.

[bisexualtimothylawrence]

I’d like one triple Drabble with sugar and cream *wink wink nudge nudge*

(I dunno? It reminded me of a coffee order so now I’m imagining fic requests like that. :D)

Ok but that actually makes sense to me as a fic request: one 300 word fic that is sweet and smutty.

(If I were in a mindset to do fic requests I would absolutely accept requests in that format is what I'm saying.)

[rightsinexile]

What they do not teach you in school about refugee law

The following article was written by Colin Yeo, a Trustee of Asylos and a practicing barrister at Garden Court Chambers in London, as well as founder and editor of the Free Movement immigration law website. The piece was originally published on the Asylos blog on 7 December 2020.

Refugee law is very, very different to refugee casework

The transition from learning refugee law to representing refugees in their cases can be something of a baptism of fire. Students of refugee law learn that a refugee has a well-founded fear of being persecuted for one of five reasons — race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion — and is unable to obtain protection in their country of origin. This is the definition of “refugee” set out in the Refugee Convention. Practitioners of refugee law learn that the vast majority of cases win or lose on evidence, not law. But evidence, unlike argument, is hard to come by.

Nuanced distinctions between subjective and objective fear, the precise boundaries of when ill-treatment tips over into persecution, the international variations on the interpretation of “membership of a particular social group” and so on all fall away when an actual asylum seeker comes forward and needs to win their case. The key issues become whether the person is telling the truth about what happened to them in their country of origin, whether they would truly be at serious risk of harm if sent back, whether there is really a failure of state protection and whether there really is nowhere the person can relocate in their own country. These are what lawyers call questions of fact, not questions of law. A decision on a question of fact is determined — or at least should be determined — by the evidence available, whether the decision maker is a government official or an independent judge. [Read more here.]

[rightsinexile]

A world in which facts matter

The following article was written by Alexandra Dufresne, a US-trained lawyer for refugees and children and the Director of the International NGO Law and Policy Project at the Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften (ZHAW). She taught Refugee and Immigration Law and Policy at Yale from 2006-2015 and now teaches Children’s Rights at the University of Zurich Faculty of Law. She is also a Trustee of Asylos. The piece was published by Asylos on 1 December 2020.

On 15 July 2020, I--along with 89,932 other individuals and NGOs in the United States--submitted public comments regarding President Trump’s proposed changes to US asylum and Convention against Torture regulations. The proposed changes were so extreme--so outside the ordinary bounds of reasoned decision-making--that it was hard to even know how to respond. While some individual Immigration Judges and Asylum Officers in the Trump Administration remained committed to deciding asylum claims in a professional, fact-based and human rights-driven way, the Administration’s policies at the macro level represented a radical departure from basic human rights and rule of law norms. As a result, advocacy during the Trump years often felt like swimming against a rip current.

So it is no surprise that when President-elect Biden named Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security last week, refugees and refugee advocates across the United States and the world extended a warm welcome. Mr. Mayorkas has been widely praised for his expertise, experience and commitment to human rights. After the announcement, Mr. Mayorkas tweeted:

When I was very young, the United States provided my family and me a place of refuge. Now, I have been nominated to be the DHS Secretary and oversee the protection of all Americans and those who flee persecution in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones.

A statement like this from the Secretary of the United States' Department of Homeland Security is a welcome relief. [Read more here.]