Seeking Refuge? - Rights of Women

For information about how claims are decided see
Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6. For information about the
different types of leave to remain in the UK see
Chapter 7. For information about appealing
against a negative decision see Chapter 8.
Who decides my case?
A claim for asylum or some other form of
protection in the UK is decided initially by a
case-owner in the UK Border Agency.
The UK Border Agency 1 is the part of the Home
Office that deals with asylum, immigration and
nationality issues. The Home Office is a
department in the UK Government.
A case-owner is someone in the UK Border
Agency who interviews people who have applied
for asylum and makes the initial decision on
whether or not they should be given permission
to remain in the UK.
If your initial application for protection to the UK
Border Agency is refused, you can appeal against
it to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. If
you do appeal, then the decision on your appeal is
taken by an Immigration Judge who is
independent of the UK Border Agency.
In order to decide whether or not you should be
given protection in the UK, and what type of
protection you should be given, the person who
makes the decision (the case-owner at the UK
Border Agency or the Immigration Judge at the
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal) must consider
all the relevant international and domestic law.
“
A decision-maker is the person
who makes a decision in your
case. The decision-maker could
be either a case-owner at the
UK Border Agency or an
immigration judge at the
Asylum and Immigration
Tribunal.
”
The Refugee Convention
The UK follows the law set out in the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, usually called
the Refugee Convention. The Refugee Convention
is international law that tries to protect people
who flee persecution in their country.
A person who is granted protection under the
Refugee Convention will be given Refugee
Leave for 5 years.
Article 1A of the Refugee Convention states that
a refugee is someone who:
• has a well-founded fear of being persecuted
for one of the following convention reasons:
AND
“
“
o race
o religion
o nationality
o political opinion
o membership of a “particular social group”
• is outside her home country;
AND
• her State is either unwilling or unable to
protect her from the persecution.
A country is the geographical
area that a person lives in, such
as England or Wales.
”
A State is the government of a
country. The word ‘State’ refers
to the official institutions
responsible for controlling a
country, such as local and
national government, the
police and the army.
What is persecution?
”
Persecution is a form of serious harm, such as the
abuse of a fundamental human right. A
fundamental human right is one of the rights that
are most important, such as the right to life and
the right to be free from torture.
1 It used to be called the Border and Immigration Agency (the BIA) and before that the Immigration and Nationality Directorate
(the IND).
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