Common burdens and standards: legal elements in assessing claims to refugee status

This paper will look at the basic aspects of evidence which are employed in refugee status determination. As part of this effort the concepts of ‘burden’ and ‘standard’ of proof as well as ‘benefit of the doubt’ and assessing ‘credibility’ will be defined. Differences in common and civil law traditions will be addressed in relation to some of these concepts and UNHCR’s pronouncements on these evidentiary questions will be surveyed.