Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. Introduction: The Emerging Criteria for Refugee Status. II. Race, Nationality, Religion: The Model of `Internal' Characteristics and Beliefs. III. The Applicant's Persona in a Political and Social Setting: The Refugee Definition as an Evolving International Norm. IV. Political Opinion and its Relationship to the Other Grounds of Refugee Protection: The Rise of Attributed Characteristics and Beliefs. V. Social Group Persecution and the Parameters of Refugee Protection: The Role of International Law and Policy in Determining Refugee Claims. VI. Conclusion: Human Rights, Humanitarian Norms and the Scope of the Protected Grounds. Acknowledgements. Index.

This volume examines the ways in which human rights and humanitarian law have influenced the development of the refugee definition as interpreted in the United States and Canada. Analysis focuses on how these two significant jurisdictions have addressed refugee protection in a modern context. The problem areas discussed include: persecution during periods of upheaval, resistance to the State in times of civil war, opposition to coercive family planning programs, and the diverse issues raised by gender-based asylum claims. The view is advanced that the grounds of refugee protection are not fixed but parallel discriminatory social and political attitudes towards defined groups. The study also advocates that human rights and humanitarian law principles should continue to shape the evolution of refugee jurisprudence so as to achieve more effectively the Convention's goals. This work will be of great interest to academics, practitioners, and policy makers in the refugee field, as well as to scholars of international human rights and humanitarian law.

Description based on print version record.