Canada's Refugee Status Determination System and the International Norm of Independence

Authors

  • Gerald P. Heckman University of Manitoba

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.26033

Keywords:

Canada, refugee status determination, refugee protection, refugee rights, human rights, law, independent tribunal

Abstract

Refugee protection decisions engage migrants’ fundamental life, liberty, and security of the person interests. As a result, refugee protection claimants enjoy institutional and procedural rights under conventional international law. These include the right to a fair adjudication of their protection claims by an independent tribunal. To be independent, a tribunal must meet the formal guarantees of security of tenure, financial security, and administrative independence and must actually be independent, in appearance and practice, from the executive and legislature, particularly in the appointments process. Refugee protection decisions must be made by first instance adjudicative bodies that either fully comply with the requirements of tribunal independence or whose decisions are subject to subsequent review by a tribunal that meets these requirements and has sufficient jurisdiction over the merits of the dispute. The Canadian refugee protection system fails, in certain respects, to meet international standards of independence. The Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board’s Refugee Protection Division enjoys statutory, objective badges of independence and appears to operate independently of the executive. However, the independence of Canadian officials engaged in eligibility determinations and in pre-removal risk assessments is very much in question because they have a closer relationship to executive law enforcement functions.
Citations
  • Citation Indexes: 6
Captures
  • Readers: 14

Metrics

PDF views
850
Jan 2009Jul 2009Jan 2010Jul 2010Jan 2011Jul 2011Jan 2012Jul 2012Jan 2013Jul 2013Jan 2014Jul 2014Jan 2015Jul 2015Jan 2016Jul 2016Jan 2017Jul 2017Jan 2018Jul 2018Jan 2019Jul 2019Jan 2020Jul 2020Jan 2021Jul 2021Jan 2022Jul 2022Jan 2023Jul 2023Jan 2024Jul 2024Jan 2025Jul 2025Jan 202632
|

Published

2008-09-01

How to Cite

Heckman, G. P. (2008). Canada’s Refugee Status Determination System and the International Norm of Independence. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 25(2), 79–102. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.26033
Crossref
1
Scopus
6

Similar Articles

<< < 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.