en pl
en pl

Decyzje

Show issue
Year 6/2015 
Issue 23

Decision-making processes and asylum claims in Europe: an empirical analysis of refugee characteristics and asylum application outcomes

Patricia Rodda
University of California

6/2015 (23) Decyzje

DOI 10.7206/DEC.1733-0092.45

Article contents

Abstract

Although refugees are offered the potential of asylum protection through the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, many states are attempting to curtail the number of asylum applications received each year. Several scholars have argued that even without such deterrence measures, some refugees are less likely to receive a positive asylum decision than others. Using country level data for 32 European states, this project examines the effects of various characteristics – including gender, age, and state of origin – on the likelihood of being granted asylum. This study is a fi rst attempt at empirically testing the asylum literature’s anecdotal evidence of bias in the decision-making processes in determining the outcomes of asylum claims.

References

  1. Akram, S. M. (2000). Orientalism Revisited in Asylum and Refugee Claims. International Journal of Refugee Law, 12(1), 7-40. [Google Scholar]
  2. Alison, M. (2007). Wartime Sexual Violence: Women’s Human Rights and Questions of Masculinity. Review of International Studies, 33(1), 75-90. [Google Scholar]
  3. Angel, J. L., Angel, R. J. (1992). Age at Migration, Social Connections, and Well-Being Among Elderly Hispanics. Journal of Aging and Health, 4(4), 480-499. [Google Scholar]
  4. Angel, R. J. et. al. (1999). Age at Migration and Family Dependency Among Older Mexican Immigrants: Recent Evidence from the Mexican American EPESE. The Gerontologist, 39(1), 59-65. [Google Scholar]
  5. Ankenbrand, B. (2002). Refugee Women Under German Asylum Law. International Journal of Refugee Law, 14(1), 45-56. [Google Scholar]
  6. Anker, D. (2000-2001). Refugee States and Violence Against Women in the ‘Domestic’ Sphere: The Non-State Actor Question. Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, 15, 391-402. [Google Scholar]
  7. Anker, D., Gilbert, N., Kelly, L. (1997). Women Whose Governments Are Unable or Unwilling to Provide Reasonable Protection from Domestic Violence May Qualify As Refugees Under United States Asylum Law. Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, 11, 709-745. [Google Scholar]
  8. Asylum Information Database. (2015). Country Reports. . [Google Scholar]
  9. Bahl, A. 1997-1998. Home is Where the Brute Lives: Asylum Law and Gender Based Claims of Persecution. Cardozo Women’s Law Journal, 4, 33-73. [Google Scholar]
  10. Bell, D. N. F., Blanchfl ower, D. G. (2011). Young People and the Great Recession. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 27(2), 241-267. [Google Scholar]
  11. Bhabha, J. (2004a). Demography and Rights: Women Children and Access to Asylum. International Journal of Refugee Law, 16(2), 227-243. [Google Scholar]
  12. -----. (2004b). Seeking Asylum Alone: Treatment of Separated and Traffi cked Children in Need of Refugee Protection. International Migration, 42(1), 141-148. [Google Scholar]
  13. Batchelor, C. A. (1995). Stateless Persons: Some Gaps in International Protection. International Journal of Refugee Law, 7(2), 232-259. [Google Scholar]
  14. Bloch, A., Galvin, T., Harrell-Bond, B. (2000). Refugee Women in Europe: Some Aspects of the Legal and Policy Dimensions. International Migration, 38(2),169-190. [Google Scholar]
  15. Bocker, A., Havinga, T. (1998). Asylum Applications in the European Union: Patterns and Trends and the Effects of Policy Measures. Journal of Refugee Studies, 11(3), 245-266. [Google Scholar]
  16. Boswell, Ch. (2007). Migration Control in Europe After 9/11: Explaining the Absence of Securitization. Journal of Common Market Studies, 45(3), 589-610. [Google Scholar]
  17. Carpenter, R. Ch. (2005). ‘Women, Children and Other Vulnerable Groups’: Gender, Strategic Frames and the Protection of Civilians as a Transnational Issue. International Studies Quarterly, 49, 295-334. [Google Scholar]
  18. Castles, S., Loughma, S. (2003). Trends in Asylum Migration to Industrialized Countries: 19992001. Discussion Paper 2003/31. United Nations University: World Institute for Development Economics Research. [Google Scholar]
  19. Cervany, J., van Ours, J. C. (2013). Unemployment of Non-Western Immigrants in the Great Recession. De Economist, 161(4), 463-480. [Google Scholar]
  20. Christie, A. (2003). Unsettling the ‘Social’ in Social Work: Responses to Asylum Seeking Children in Ireland. Child & Family Social Work, 8(3), 223-231. [Google Scholar]
  21. Correlates of War. (2014). World Religion Data (v1.1). < http://www.correlatesofwar.org>. [Google Scholar]
  22. Crawley, H. (2000). Engendering the State in Refugee Women’s Claims for Asylum. In Jacobs, S., Jacobson, R., Marchbank, J. (eds.) States of Confl ict: Gender, Violence, and Resistance. London: Zed Books, 87-104. [Google Scholar]
  23. Dunkerley, D., et al. (2005). The Experiences of Frontline Staff Working with Children Seeking Asylum. Social Policy & Administration, 39(6), 640-652. [Google Scholar]
  24. European Commission. (2014). Statistics. Eurostat < http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/ portal/statistics/themes>. [Google Scholar]
  25. Fekete, L. (2005). The Deportation Machine: Europe, Asylum, and Human Rights. Race & Class, 47(1), 64-91. [Google Scholar]
  26. Freedom House. (2014). Freedom in the World: Country Ratings and Status. . [Google Scholar]
  27. Gibney, M. L., Wood, C. R., Haschke, P. (2014). Political Terror Scale 1976-2012. . [Google Scholar]
  28. Gomez, D. (2003-2004). Last in Line – the United States Trails Behind in Recognizing Gender-Based Asylum Claims. Whittier Law Review, 25, 959-987. [Google Scholar]
  29. Goodman, R., Jinks, D. (2003). Measuring the Effects of Human Rights Treaties. European Journal of International Law, 14(1), 171-183. [Google Scholar]
  30. Hathaway, O. A. (2007). Why Do Countries Commit to Human Rights Treaties? Journal of Confl ict Resolution, 51(4), 588-621. [Google Scholar]
  31. Hatton, T. (2012). The Recession and International Migration. In Baldwin, R., Vines, D. (eds.) Rethinking Global Economic Governance in Light of the Crisis: New Perspectives on Economic Policy Foundations. London: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 143-156. [Google Scholar]
  32. -----. (2004). Seeking Asylum in Europe. Economic Policy, 19(38) 5-62. [Google Scholar]
  33. Heyman, M. G. (2005). Domestic Violence and Asylum: Toward a Working Model of Affi rmative State Obligations. International Journal of Refugee Law, 17(4), 729-748. [Google Scholar]
  34. -----. (2002-2003). Asylum, Social Group Membership and the Non-State Actor: the Challenge of Domestic Violence. University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 36(4), 767-814. [Google Scholar]
  35. Holzer, T., Schneider, G. (2001). Asylpolitik auf Abwegen – Nationalstaatliche und Europaische Reaktionen auf die Globalizierung der Fluchtlingsstrome. Opladen, Germany: Leske und Budrich. [Google Scholar]
  36. Holzer, T., Schneider, G., Widmer, T. (2000). The Impact of Legislative Deterrence Measures on the Number of Asylum Applications in Switzerland (1986-1995). International Migration Review, 34(4), 1182-1216. [Google Scholar]
  37. Keith, L. C., Holmes, J. (2009). A Rare Examination of Typically Unobservable Factors in US Asylum Decisions. Journal of Refugee Studies, 22(2) 224-241. [Google Scholar]
  38. Kelly, N. (1993). Gender-Related Persecution: Assessing the Asylum Claims of Women. Cornell International Law Journal, 26, 625-674. [Google Scholar]
  39. Martin, L. L. (2005). The President and International Commitments: Treaties as Signaling Devices. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 35(3), 440-465. [Google Scholar]
  40. Musalo, K. (2002-2003). Revisiting Social Group and Nexus in Gender Asylum Claims: A Unifying Rationale for Evolving Jurisprudence. DePaul Law Review, 52, 777-808. [Google Scholar]
  41. Neumayer, E. (2005a). Asylum Recognition Rates in Western Europe: Their Determinants, Variation, and Lack of Convergence. Journal of Confl ict Resolution, 49(1), 43-66. [Google Scholar]
  42. -----. (2005b). Bogus Refugees? The Determinants of Asylum Migration to Western Europe. International Studies Quarterly, 49, 389-409. [Google Scholar]
  43. -----. (2005c). Do International Human Rights Treaties Improve Respect for Human Rights? Journal of Confl ict Resolution, 49(6), 925-953. [Google Scholar]
  44. Polk, M. F. (1997-1998). Women Persecuted Under Islamic Law: The Zina Ordinance in Pakistan as a Basis for Asylum Claims in the United States. Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, 12, 379-393. [Google Scholar]
  45. Randall, M. (2002). Refugee Law and State Accountability for Violence Against Women: A Comparative Analysis of Legal Approaches to Recognizing Asylum Claims Based on Gender Persecution. Harvard Women’s Law Journal, 25, 281-318. [Google Scholar]
  46. Sandefur, G. D., Scott, W. J. (1981). A Dynamic Analysis of Migration: An Assessment of the Effects of Age, Family, and Career Variables. Demography, 18(3), 355-368. [Google Scholar]
  47. Seith, P. A. (1997). Escaping Domestic Violence: Asylum as a Means of Protection for Battered Women. Columbia Law Review, 97(6), 1804-1843. [Google Scholar]
  48. Settlage, R. (1997-1998). No Place to Call Home: Stateless Vietnamese Asylum-Seekers in Hong [Google Scholar]
  49. Kong. Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, 12, 187-202. [Google Scholar]
  50. Sinha, A. (2001). Domestic Violence and U.S. Asylum Law: Eliminating the ‘Cultural Hook’ for Claims Involving Gender-Related Persecution. New York University Law Review, 76, 1562-1598. [Google Scholar]
  51. Sivakumaran, S. (2007). Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Confl ict. The European Journal of International Law, 18(2), 253-276. [Google Scholar]
  52. Stellinga-Boelen, A. A. M., et al. (2007). Vitamin D Levels in Children of Asylum Seekers in the Netherlands in Relation to Season and Dietary Intake. European Journal of Pediatrics, 166(3), 201-206. [Google Scholar]
  53. Taylor, S., Byford, S. (2003). Research with Unaccompanied Children Seeking Asylum. BMJ, 327, 1400-1402. [Google Scholar]
  54. UNHCR. (2014a). Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. . [Google Scholar]
  55. -----. (2014b). States Parties to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol. < http://www.unhcr.org/3b73b0d63.html>. [Google Scholar]
  56. -----. (2009). Chapter IV: Asylum and Refugee Status Determination. UNHCR Statistical Yearbook. . [Google Scholar]
  57. Vincent, J. (1996). Who’s Afraid of an Aging Population? Nationalism, the Free Market, and the Construction of Old Age as an Issue. Critical Social Policy, 47(16), 3-26. [Google Scholar]
  58. World Bank. (2014a). GDP (Current US). Indicators. < http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD>. [Google Scholar]
  59. World Bank. (2014b). Unemployment, Total (% of Total Labor Force) (Modeled ILO Estimate). Indicators. < http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS>. [Google Scholar]
  60. Zawati, H. (2007). Impunity or Immunity: Wartime Male Rape and Sexual Torture as a Crime Against Humanity. Torture, 17(1), 27-47. [Google Scholar]

Full metadata record

Cite this record

APA style

Rodda, Patricia C. (2015). Decision-making processes and asylum claims in Europe: an empirical analysis of refugee characteristics and asylum application outcomes. (2015). Decision-making processes and asylum claims in Europe: an empirical analysis of refugee characteristics and asylum application outcomes. Decyzje, (23), 23-46. https://doi.org/10.7206/DEC.1733-0092.45 (Original work published 6/2015AD)

MLA style

Rodda, Patricia C.. “Decision-Making Processes And Asylum Claims In Europe: An Empirical Analysis Of Refugee Characteristics And Asylum Application Outcomes”. 6/2015AD. Decyzje, no. 23, 2015, pp. 23-46.

Chicago style

Rodda, Patricia C.. “Decision-Making Processes And Asylum Claims In Europe: An Empirical Analysis Of Refugee Characteristics And Asylum Application Outcomes”. Decyzje, Decyzje, no. 23 (2015): 23-46. doi:10.7206/DEC.1733-0092.45.

Copyright info

copyright info

CC-BY

People also read: