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![handle is hein.immigration/refgrpt0022 and id is 1 raw text is:
Refugee Reports
A NEws SERVICE OF THE U.S. COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES
VOLUME 22, NUMBER 1 JANUARY 2001
Proposed Rule Addresses Asylum for
Victims of Gender-Based Persecution
On December 7, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
issued a proposed rule intended to aid in the assessment of [asylum
or withholding] claims made by applicants who have suffered or fear
domestic violence or other gender-related harm inflicted by nonstate
actors. The proposed rule restates that gender can form the basis of a
particular social group and recognizes that domestic violence may,
under certain circumstances, qualify the victim for a grant of asylum.
Patterns of violence that occur within familial or intimate
relationships, the rule adds, are not private matters, but rather should
be addressed when they are supported by a legal system or social
norms that condone or perpetuate domestic violence.
Once final, the proposed rule will amend current INS regulations
that govern asylum and withholding of removal claims. It will provide
further guidance to asylum officers, immigration judges, and the Board
of Immigration Appeals (BIA) on the definitions of persecution
and membership in a particular social group as well as what it means
for persecution to be on account of a protected characteristic-race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or
political opinion.
In addition, the proposed rule discusses the procedural handling
of asylum and withholding claims in which past persecution by a
nonstate actor has been established.
The new provisions will apply to all asylum claims-not only
gender-based claims. In the supplementary information, the INS states
that gender-based claims can be considered based on general principles
of asylum law. This means that the principles with which refugee
experts are familiar do not have to be strained to accommodate the
claims of those with gender-based claims.
The proposed rule was prompted, in part, by the BIA's 1999
denial of asylum to Rodi Alvarado Pefia, a Guatemalan woman whose
husband repeatedly abused her. (See Refugee Reports, Vol 21., No. 8.)
In that case, Matter ofR-A-, the BIA overturned an immigration judge's
grant of asylum, ruling that Alvarado had failed to establish that she
had 4ee persecuted on account of membership in a particular social
group or political opinion.
In the decision, the BIA stated that it believed Alvarado's husband
had abused her and would abuse her again and accepted Alvarado's
Lestimony that she was unable to gain protection from Guatemalan
uthorities.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Lead Story
Alyson Springer reports on a proposed
rule that addresses asylum for victims
of domestic violence and other
gender-based persecution ......................... 1
Recent Developments
Jana Mason reports on the INS's final
rule on asylum, internal flight
alternative, and past persecution ............ 7
Upon return from Pakistan and
Afghanistan, Hiram A. Ruiz reports on the
new Afghan refugee crisis in Pakistan ..... 10
Ruiz reports on the hardships faced by
displaced Afghans ....................................... 11
Field Notes
Ruiz travels to south Florida to report on
the situation for Colombians living in the
United States .............................................. 12
Job Board
.............................................................................. 5
V tkiti
. ........................................ 16
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