Barriers to protection:gender-related persecution andasylum in South Africa

Abstract

Abstract \nIn 1998, South Africa became the first country to explicitly state within its refugee law that genderrelated \npersecution is a binding basis for asylum, further distinguishing South Africa as a state \nwith outstanding legal commitments to gender equality. Creating further visibility within the law, \nhowever, is only one step in the process. How the law is implemented determines its real worth \nand effectiveness. \nThis study assesses the manner in which asylum decisions are made, particularly in cases of \ngendered harm, questioning readily accepted and essentialised notions of women and gender. It \nlooks at how the South African asylum system defines legitimate refugees, and the interplay of \nfluid interpretations of gender, culture, violence and the political within these constructions. \nThrough interviews with officials and asylum seekers, the study identifies trends in the refugee \nsystem, and interrogates the reliance on narrow understandings of the political and personal, as \nwell as the nature of conflict and culture.

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