000			01859nam a2200193 4500
999			_c510958 _d510958
008			190905b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aDehm, Sara _99790
245			_aWitchcraft accusations as gendered persecution in refugee law
260			_c2019
300			_ap.202-226.
520			_aWitchcraft-related violence (WRV), in particular directed towards women and children, has become a source of increasing concern for human rights organizations in the current century. Yet for those fleeing WRV, this heightened attention has not translated across into refugee status. This research examines how claims of WRV were addressed in all available asylum decisions in English, drawn from five jurisdictions. We argue that WRV is a manifestation of gender-related harm; one which exposes major failings in the application of refugee jurisprudence. Inattention to the religious and organizational elements of witchcraft practices, combined with gender insensitivity in analysis, meant that claims were frequently reconfigured by decision makers as personal grudges, or family or community disputes, such that they were not cognizable harms within the terms of the Refugee Convention; or they were simply disbelieved as far-fetched. The success rate of claims was low, compared to available averages, and, when successful, claims were universally accepted on some basis other than the witchcraft element of the case. This article focuses in particular upon cases where the applicant feared harm as an accused witch, while a second related article addresses those fearing persecution from witches or through the medium of witchcraft. - Reproduced.
650			_aViolence _99791
650			_aHuman rights _99792
650			_aRefugees _99793
700			_aMillbank, Jenni _99794
773			_aSocial and Legal Studies
906			_aWomen
942			_2ddc _cAR