‘This briefing examines the emergence of the Somali migration route to Uganda and its significance in the long history of Somali migration in East Africa’ – A safe haven for Somalis in Uganda? Iazzolino, Gianluca. Nairobi Forum, Rift Valley Institute. August 2014.
‘In this book, an array of legal, biomedical, psychosocial, and social science scholars and practitioners offer the first comparative account of the increasing dependence on expertise in the asylum and refugee status determination process’ – Adjudicating Refugee and Asylum Status: The Role of Witness, Expertise, and Testimony. Edited by Lawrence, Benjamin N. and Galya Ruffer. January 2015.
‘This is the first book to explore the role of court-based expertise in relation to African asylum cases and the first to establish a rigorous analytical framework for interpreting the effects of this new reliance on expert testimony’ – African Asylum at a Crossroads: Activism, Expert Testimony, and Refugee Rights. Edited by Berger, Idris, Redeker Hepner, Tricia, Lawrence, Benjamin N., Tague, Joanna T. and Meredith Terretta. Ohio University Press. 2015.
‘People denied of their due process rights include asylum seekers, children, people with mental disabilities, U.S. citizens, and people lawfully working in and visiting the United States…. For these individuals, their fates were decided by immigration enforcement officers, not judges’ – American Exile: Rapid Deportations That Bypass the Courtroom. American Civil Liberties Union. December 2014.
‘This handbook is intended for use by pro bono attorneys and immigration attorneys working on LGBT/HIV asylum cases. The handbook is not intended as legal advice and is not meant to be used by unrepresented asylum seekers to prepare their own applications’ – Asylum Manual. Immigration Equality. 21 October 2014.
‘This document provides an update of UK Country Guidance case law, UK Home Office publications and developments in refugee producing countries (focusing on those which generate the most asylum seekers in the UK)’ – COI Update Vol. 92. Asylum Research Consultancy. 2-15 December 2014.
‘A Danish immigration report on Eritrea that suggests changing refugee policy for Eritrean asylum seekers is deeply flawed. Denmark and other European governments should await the outcome of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea, established in June 2014, before considering any major policy changes concerning Eritrea’ – Denmark: Eritrea Immigration Report Deeply Flawed. Human Rights Watch. 17 December 2014.
‘This Special Support Plan lays down the conditions and objectives of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO)’s specific technical and operational support to Bulgaria and sets out the conditions for participation in these specific EASO activities’ - European Asylum Support Office (EASO) Special Support Plan to Bulgaria. 5 December 2014.
‘The most recent EASO COI report argues that in recent years, President Ramzan Kadyrov has run a so-called “virtue campaign” in Chechnya that constitutes a setback for women’s independence and their rights in society. The influence of Adat (local customary practices and tradition) and also partly the Islamisation of Chechnya during the regime of Kadyrov has worsened the situation for Chechen women: violence against women is widespread in Chechnya and domestic violence is a problem’ – EASO Country of Origin Information Report: Chechnya. Women, Marriage, Divorce and Child Custody. European Asylum Support Office. September 2014.
‘Although the State of Israel does not act to remove them from the country, recognising the danger they face in their countries of origin, over the years the authorities have enacted a policy, continuing still, designed mainly to deter additional asylum seekers from coming to Israel, and to encourage those already in the country to leave’ – No Safe Haven: Israeli asylum policy as applied to Eritrean and Sudanese citizens. Shani, Eli, Ayal, Shira, Berman, Yonatan and Sigal Rozen. Hotline for Refugees and Migrants. December 2014.
‘Driven by the continuing loss of life in the Mediterranean, the Bay of Bengal, the Red Sea, and elsewhere, as well as by the challenges to border-control policies implicit in maritime migration, representatives of states, civil-society groups, and international organisations gathered in Geneva under the auspices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in an extraordinary meeting to launch a two-year initiative on rescue at sea, aiming to limit the loss of life and foster international cooperation’ – Protection at Sea: Addressing Irregular Maritime Migration. Newland, Kathleen. Migration Policy Institute. December 2014.
‘Although considered eligible for refugee protection in a small number of countries beginning the 1990s, knowledge and acceptance of sexual minorities is itself a relatively recent phenomenon in the countries that accept their claims. In many cases decision-makers have been shown to rely on stereotypes of what they consider to be “gay” identity’ – Queer, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Refugee Experiences of 'Passing' into 'Membership of a Particular Social Group'. Connely, Elizabeth. UCL Migration Research Unit Working Papers. 2013, but printed here due to continued relevance.
‘This paper concludes that Sale should be overturned by statute as should related pre-screening practices. A new standard of “jurisdiction” should be adopted which does not depend on territorial access to a signatory state but on whether the state is exercising power in fact’ – Reconfiguring the Law of Non-Refoulement: Procedural and Substantive Barriers for Those Seeking to Access Surrogate International Human Rights Protection. von Sternberg, Mark R. Journal on Migration and Human Security, Volume 2, Number 4. 2014.
‘In the hope of contributing to a better sense of the task ahead, this inaugural World’s Stateless report explores currently available statistical data and discusses the challenges involved in accurately mapping or quantifying statelessness’ – The World’s Stateless. Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion. December 2014.
‘Whereas [Ebola related] public health measures may not specifically target asylum seekers or other persons who may be in need of international protection, they may have far reaching consequences for such persons’ - Considerations on the Impact of Measures relating to Ebola Virus Disease, on Persons Who are or may be in Need of International Protection. UNHCR. December 2014.
‘The [UK] Home Office’s prurient interest in the very private lives of asylum seekers has been attributed in part to the Supreme Court judgment in HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 31, where the Court found that asylum could not be refused on the basis that an individual would not face persecution due to their sexuality if they behaved with discretion when returned’ – Very private lives: ‘acceptable questioning’ in sexual orientation asylum cases. Davies, Anita. Eutopia Law. 12 November 2014.
‘Five papers cover the evidence base for interventions, discuss the vital role of the health sector in care and prevention, show the need for men and women to be involved in effective programmes, provide practical lessons from experience in countries, and present a call for action with five key recommendations and indicators to track progress’ – Violence against women and girls. The Lancet. 21 November 2014.
‘The paper developed by the human rights working party at this year’s IARLJ conference reaffirms the position – through a catalogue of comparative international case law – that there is a nexus between claims based on sexual orientation, gender identity and refugee protection, whether through membership in a particular social group and/or political opinion’ – Vulnerable Persons Working Party Discussion Paper Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and the Administration of Refugee Protection. International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ) Conference. 20-25 October 2014.
