Adjudicating fear of witchcraft claims in refugee law

Millbank, J; Vogl, A

Adjudicating fear of witchcraft claims in refugee law

Millbank, J

Vogl, A

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Law and Society, 2018, 45 (3), pp. 370 - 397
Issue Date:: 2018-09-01

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	Millbank_Vogl_WitchcraftFear.pdf	Published Version	182.74 kB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Millbank, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8934-7945	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Vogl, A https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6327-0524	en_US
dc.date.issued	2018-09-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Law and Society, 2018, 45 (3), pp. 370 - 397	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0263-323X	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/129179
dc.description.abstract	© 2018 The Author. Journal of Law and Society & 2018 Cardiff University Law School. In refugee applications involving witchcraft-related violence (WRV), those accused of witchcraft are largely women, and those fearing witchcraft are more often men. This is one of two interrelated articles reporting on cases where claimants feared harm from witchcraft or occult practices. It argues that WRV is a manifestation of gender-related harm, one which exposes major failings in the application of refugee jurisprudence. Systemic inattention to the meaning and application of the Convention ground of religion, combined with gender insensitivity in analysis, meant that claims were frequently reconfigured by decision makers as personal grudges. The fear of witchcraft cases pose an acute ontological challenge to refugee status determination, as the claimed harm falls outside what is understood to be objective, verifiable, or Convention-related. Male applicants struggled to make their claims comprehensible as a result of the feminized and ‘irrational’ characterization of witchcraft fears and beliefs.	en_US
dc.relation	http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP120102025
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Law and Society	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1111/jols.12120	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Law	en_US
dc.title	Adjudicating fear of witchcraft claims in refugee law	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	3	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	45	en_US
utslib.for	1801 Law	en_US
utslib.for	1602 Criminology	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - HJ - Health Justice
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	3	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	45	en_US

Abstract:

© 2018 The Author. Journal of Law and Society & 2018 Cardiff University Law School. In refugee applications involving witchcraft-related violence (WRV), those accused of witchcraft are largely women, and those fearing witchcraft are more often men. This is one of two interrelated articles reporting on cases where claimants feared harm from witchcraft or occult practices. It argues that WRV is a manifestation of gender-related harm, one which exposes major failings in the application of refugee jurisprudence. Systemic inattention to the meaning and application of the Convention ground of religion, combined with gender insensitivity in analysis, meant that claims were frequently reconfigured by decision makers as personal grudges. The fear of witchcraft cases pose an acute ontological challenge to refugee status determination, as the claimed harm falls outside what is understood to be objective, verifiable, or Convention-related. Male applicants struggled to make their claims comprehensible as a result of the feminized and ‘irrational’ characterization of witchcraft fears and beliefs.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/129179