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The Beleaguered Gatekeeper: Protection Challenges Posed By Unhcr Refugee Status Determination, Michael Kagan
The Beleaguered Gatekeeper: Protection Challenges Posed By Unhcr Refugee Status Determination, Michael Kagan
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The number of individual Refugee Status Determination (RSD) applications received by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offices worldwide nearly doubled from 1997 to 2001, while UNHCR’s RSD operations have been criticized for failing to implement basic standards of procedural fairness. Yet, although there is some literature critiquing how UNHCR determines refugee status, there is little literature examining whether UNHCR should do so, and if it should, when, where, and under what conditions.
UNHCR performance of RSD poses protection challenges because it is founded on a basic contradiction. On the one hand, government action is essential for effective refugee …