UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Summary Conclusions on Religion-Based Refugee Claims (Baltimore Expert Roundtable, 30-31 October 2002), -, February 2003, https://www.refworld.org/reference/confdoc/unhcr/2003/34508 [accessed 30 April 2026]
This paper is written in the context of the growing importance of religion-based claims, and with the recognition of the complicated historical and socio-political factors within which the claims arise. The approach to determining the key elements in a refugee adjudication – what is a religion, what constitutes persecution in the context of religious practice, when is the persecution “for reasons of” the individual’s religious beliefs – are less clear today than they were when 1951 Refugee Convention was drafted. This paper is intended to address the need for a contemporary review of religion-based claims, and the concomitant need for the development of a framework for refugee adjudicators.
Karen Musalo, Claims for Protection Based on Religion or Belief: Analysis and Proposed Conclusions, Research Paper No. 1, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), December 2002, https://www.refworld.org/reference/lpprs/unhcr/2002/118226 [accessed 30 April 2026]
Claims of persecution on the basis of religion are likely to be among the most complex, arcane, and incomprehensible that will need to be decided by an asylum adjudicator. While religion may involve group identity (like race and nationality) or voluntary affiliation (like political and social groupings), it also encompasses an enormous range of human activities and beliefs. This paper seeks to provide useful background information that an adjudicator should consider when interpreting and applying asylum law in religion based claims.
T. Jeremy Gunn, The Complexity of Religion in Determining Refugee Status, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 24 October 2002, https://www.refworld.org/reference/research/unhcr/2002/97827 [accessed 30 April 2026]
