Gender and Asylum: Reforming U.S. Law; and Recognizing the Difficulty of Internal Relocation for Women

On the topic of the intersection of gender and refugee law, two recent (admittedly unrelated) reports caught my eye.  The first:  Human Rights First released “How to Repair the U.S. Asylum System:  Blueprint for the Next Administration.”  Among the several excellent suggestions in this blueprint is to “recognize gender-based persecution as a ground for asylum,” and more specifically, to “[d]irect DHS and DOJ to promulgate joint regulations that make clear that women persecuted on account of their gender are eligible for asylum.” Such reform is needed.  Hat tip Refblog Asylum Update.

The second item:  a report from Asylum Aid entitled “Relocation, Relocation:  The impact of internal relocation on women asylum seekers.”  Internal relocation (also sometimes called the “internal flight alternative”) is the idea that a person seeking refuge in another country should be required to flee internally, instead, if possible.  As the summary of the report points out:

As women’s asylum and human rights claims are more likely than men’s to be based on non-state persecution, women are disproportionately affected by the principle of internal relocation. This means even if you are recognised as being persecuted and at risk if you return to your home area, you may be told you can relocate to another part of your country. This report discusses the legal application of internal relocation and questions the appropriateness of this principle for women asylum seekers who have experienced gender based persecution.

Hat tip ImmigrationProf Blog.

If you are interested in these issues, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies is hiring, for a permanent position as well as a summer clerk position.

Cross-posted at Feminist Law Professors.

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How Family and Office Roles Mix

Simpsons_family_dynamic Interesting article on this topic in the NYT last week.

Some highlights:

THE office joker. The mother hen. The king. The rebel. The gossip. The peacekeeper. The dude.

Anyone who has ever been part of a workplace culture can probably recognize at least one of those characters in the cubicle next door.

But workplace roles and the dynamics among colleagues can go much deeper than those somewhat superficial stereotypes, especially in a nation where many people spend as much time with colleagues as they do with their families, where the office so often mirrors the family.

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Return of the Sit Down Strike

Sit_down_woolworths_strike The title of this post is courtesy of Harris Freeman (Western New England) who brings to my attention the current situation in Chicago concerning the developments at Republic Windows:

Harris writes:

Members of the UE Local have started a sit-down strike after the employer shut down on a 3-day notice, violating the WARN Act, after Bank of America cancelled the business’s line of credit.

Union members are rotating in thirty-person shifts to staff the sit-down.   Here is the URL for one of a series of articles in the Chicago Tribune on the sit-down.

The NYT also did an article on the strike.

Harris asks some good questions including: are we going to see some new — and old — tactics by workers who are seeking to defend their unions and livelihoods in response to the rapidly unfolding economic crisis?

He also points out that maybe the news of this sit-down will lead to some interesting exam questions.

Cross posted at Workplace Prof Blog.

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