Refugee Status for Female Circumcision Fugitives: Building a Canadian Precedent

VALERIE OOSTERVELD

ABSTRACT

The French Commission for Appeals of Refugees has recently recognized that female circumcision may be considered as a form of persecution under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. It is conceivable, and likely, that the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board will follow this precedent in a similar case. The Chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board has recently released guidelines for assessing whether women fearing gender-related persecution qualify as refugees. These guidelines provide the most hope for claimants fleeing circumcision. The existing case law is useful insofar as it provides the Board with clues on how to approach a gender-related case. This article attempts to present the context of female circumcision and document the arguments that one would make on behalf of a claimant fleeing female circumcision to prove that she should be given refugee status.

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Citation: (1993) 51(2) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 277.
Copyright © 1993. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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