Self-study
P1
When women are persecuted on account of their gender, they are likely to be eligible for asylum. ███████████ ██ ███
Intro topic ·
UN Convention on Refugees and its protection of women seeking asylum
Definition of refugee doesn't explicitly identify persecution based on gender. But women can qualify as refugees based on persecution for being a member of a "particular social group."
Author's perspective ·
History of "social group" category in the definition shows that it was intended to cover women
P2
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Historical context ·
Drafters of UN Convention added "social group" as a catch-all "safety net"
They didn't want someone to be left out of definition of refugee just because they didn't fall into the other categories. "Social group" was left undefined to allow for flexibility.
P3
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Support for coverage of women ·
A UN handbook supports interpreting "social group" as covering women
Many women suffering persecution share a common background and social status, which matches how the handbook describes a social group.
Additional support ·
UNHCR report advised that "social group" protects women
P4
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Elaborate on support ·
The UNHCR report is likely to influence nation's asylum laws
Passage Style
Single position
Spotlight
24.
The author describes persecution as ███ █
a
international acceptance of ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ █████████ █████ ████ ███████████ ███████████
We have no evidence that reaching a consensus on the definition of persecution was necessary for the definition of refugee to be accepted internationally. Although the word “consensus” is mentioned at the end of the passage, that reference has nothing to do with some purported requirement for international acceptance of the definition of refugee.
b
international concern about ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████
We have no evidence that concern about the number of people fleeing persecution was the “primary” reason for the definition of refugee. It probably was one reason, perhaps even an important one, but there’s just no support for it being the “primary” reason.
c
persecution is a █████████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ █████████████ █████████ █████ ███ █████ ███████
We have no evidence that “persecution” was a controversial term. The author never describes controversy about the definition or whether it played any role in the definition of persecution in the UNC.
d
persecution is the ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ █████████
We have no evidence that persecution is the “primary” reason people leave their home and seek asylum. It’s probably one reason, and perhaps even an important one, but there’s just no support for it being the “primary” reason.
e
persecution is the ███████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███████ █ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████
This is the best answer. Something that is “the linchpin” is the most important component of a thing. So persecution being the “linchpin” of the definition of refugee indicates it’s the central factor in determining refugee status.