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The Public Persecution of Domestic Violence, A feminist critique of the exclusion of women’s claims from the 1951 refugee definition

Gusic, Selma LU (2010) SIMT07 20101
Master of Science in Global Studies
Graduate School
Abstract (Swedish)
In recent years the gendered aspects of the 1951 refugee definition have been discussed within asylum law and amongst feminist theoreticians, claiming that women’s persecution grounds often aren’t defined legitimate within the definition. This thesis address the issue of women fleeing domestic violence; a persecution by a non-state actor. With a starting point in feminist theories critique of the liberal private/public divide, it criticize and describes the exclusion of women’s asylum claims from the refugee definition as reflecting liberal thoughts separation of the public and private spheres. Women’s given location in the private sphere excludes them from the public recognition of their claims. It then argues that domestic violence needs... (More)
In recent years the gendered aspects of the 1951 refugee definition have been discussed within asylum law and amongst feminist theoreticians, claiming that women’s persecution grounds often aren’t defined legitimate within the definition. This thesis address the issue of women fleeing domestic violence; a persecution by a non-state actor. With a starting point in feminist theories critique of the liberal private/public divide, it criticize and describes the exclusion of women’s asylum claims from the refugee definition as reflecting liberal thoughts separation of the public and private spheres. Women’s given location in the private sphere excludes them from the public recognition of their claims. It then argues that domestic violence needs to be considered a legitimate asylum claim, by allowing women subjected to persecution by a non-state actor to count as members of a particular social group, hence gaining legitimate refugee status according to the definition - as has been decided in individual verdicts of some of these cases. It also argues that the Due Diligence standard needs to be adopted in deciding the state’s responsibility, ability and willingness and in the end failure to protect women from non-state persecutors. (Less)
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author
Gusic, Selma LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMT07 20101
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Normative Value Analysis, Feminist theory, Refugee definition, Private/public, Domestic violence
language
Swedish
id
1613944
date added to LUP
2010-07-19 11:09:48
date last changed
2010-07-19 11:09:48
@misc{1613944,
  abstract     = {{In recent years the gendered aspects of the 1951 refugee definition have been discussed within asylum law and amongst feminist theoreticians, claiming that women’s persecution grounds often aren’t defined legitimate within the definition. This thesis address the issue of women fleeing domestic violence; a persecution by a non-state actor. With a starting point in feminist theories critique of the liberal private/public divide, it criticize and describes the exclusion of women’s asylum claims from the refugee definition as reflecting liberal thoughts separation of the public and private spheres. Women’s given location in the private sphere excludes them from the public recognition of their claims. It then argues that domestic violence needs to be considered a legitimate asylum claim, by allowing women subjected to persecution by a non-state actor to count as members of a particular social group, hence gaining legitimate refugee status according to the definition - as has been decided in individual verdicts of some of these cases. It also argues that the Due Diligence standard needs to be adopted in deciding the state’s responsibility, ability and willingness and in the end failure to protect women from non-state persecutors.}},
  author       = {{Gusic, Selma}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Public Persecution of Domestic Violence, A feminist critique of the exclusion of women’s claims from the 1951 refugee definition}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}