Protected Groups in Refugee Law and International Law

Joseph Rikhof and Ashley Geerts
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Joseph Rikhof: Adjunct Professor, International Criminal Law, Common Law Section, University of Ottawa, Fauteux Hall, 57 Louis-Pasteur Private, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
Ashley Geerts: Articling Student, Department of Justice, 284 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H8, Canada

Laws, 2019, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-47

Abstract: 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 domestic judicial interpretation and various analytical approaches taken in different countries, protection could be enhanced by amending the Refugee Convention to explicitly include additional protected groups from these other areas of international law, specifically international human rights law and international criminal law.

Keywords: persecution; protected groups; social group; international human rights law; international humanitarian law; international criminal law; transnational criminal law; comparative international law analysis; refugee law jurisprudence; international criminal law jurisprudence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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