Refugee protection in Europe: Some contemporary challenges
Decisions on women’s claims for international protection from domestic violence, including Lazo-Majano (1987), Islam and Shah (1999) and Refugee Appeal No. 76044 (2008) have generated strands of case law which both contradict each other and the Refugee Convention’s object and purpose. Adjudicators have delineated overly restrictive social groups and ignored, identified, or imputed a range of political opinions. A disproportionate focus on ‘private’ motives has also obscured the nexus between persecution and the Convention ground(s).