Distinction, Discretion, Discrimination: The new frontiers of gender-related claims to asylum

The question whether persecuted women can be refugees seems uncontroversial and now well-settled as a matter of international refugee law. Yet, closer scrutiny of case law suggests that there are multiple impediments to the recognition of women’s asylum claims. In this paper, the author presents three emerging trends in the jurisprudence of a number of countries, which have an impact on the recognition of gender-related asylum claims. The author calls these trends – distinction, discretion and discrimination – the “new frontiers” to gender-related claims.