According to the passage, which one of the following is true about both the United Nations Convention and the UNHCR H...

Victoria on May 13, 2021

Hi @gabbayne,

Happy to help!

The UN Convention does not explicitly list persecution on the basis of gender in the definition of a refugee, but also does not preclude victims of gender-based persecution from qualifying as refugees. Rather, it allows women who are victims of gender-based persecution to seek asylum under the category of "social group" which applies to groups "who are otherwise not covered by the definition's specific categories."

We also learn that the UN Convention intended the social-group category to act as a "safety net," leaving the "precise boundaries of the social-group category undefined to ensure that the category would retain the flexibility necessary to address unanticipated situations." The UNHCR Handbook also supports a broad interpretation of social group, which is "resonant with the intentions of the Convention drafters - a malleable category greater for future asylum determinations."

Therefore, while both documents address the classification of women refugees seeking asylum from persecution, answer choice (C) is incorrect for two reasons. First, answer choice (C) does not specify gender-based persecution. Therefore, it is possible that women refugees could seek asylum under distinct categories enumerated in the documents. Second, neither document explicitly recommends using this category for the classification of women refugees.

Answer choice (D) is a stronger answer choice because we can see from our assessment above that both documents suggest that the social-group category was intended to encompass unanticipated situations, thereby allowing the category to apply to a wide variety of asylum-seekers.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.