Law Commons^™

Food Deprivation: A Basis For Refugee Status?, James C. Hathaway

Articles

It is commonplace to speak of those in flight from famine, or otherwise migrating in search of food, as “refugees.” Over the past decade alone, millions of persons have abandoned their homes in countries such as North Korea, Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, and Somalia, hoping that by moving they could find the nourishment needed to survive. In a colloquial sense, these people are refugees: they are on the move not by choice, but rather because their own desperation compels them to pursue a survival strategy away from the desperation confronting their home communities.

The question addressed here is whether persons in …

Legitimate Persecution: The Effect Of Asylum’S Nexus Clause, Nicholas Bolzman

Nicholas Bolzman

The United States adopted its first comprehensive asylum law in 1980, after various ad hoc attempts to craft an immigration scheme for those fleeing persecution had limited success. While the 1980 law does correct for many prior problems, it still retains some arbitrary limitations. Specifically, the requirement that applicants show persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion creates significant hurdles for those whose persecution is not disputed, but whose persecutors’ motives are based on something else. Examples are persecution based on gender, FGM, sexual orientation, recruitment as child soldiers, and those …

The New Nexus, Anjum Gupta

University of Colorado Law Review

United States asylum law provides protection to individuals fleeing their home countries due to "persecution or a well founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion." While significant scholarly and judicial attention has been paid to the interpretations of the five grounds-in particular to the 'olitical opinion" and 'particular social group" categories as they pertain to gender based claims and claims involving private harms-relatively little debate has focused on the proper formulation of the "on account of," or "nexus," requirement. Yet, scant guidance exists (whether by statute, regulation, or …