Braimah, ‘Defining a Particular Social Group Based on the Meaning of Non-Discrimination in International Human Rights Law’, 2015

Tim S. Braimah, ‘Defining a Particular Social Group Based on the Meaning of Non-Discrimination in International Human Rights Law: Utilizing the Definition in Deciding Refugee Claims Based on Sexual Orientation’,  Global Journal of Human-Social Science, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2015

In his article titled: Divorcing sexual orientation from religion and politics: Utilizing the Convention grounds of religion and political opinion in same-sex oriented asylum claims, Braimah argues that of the two approaches in interpreting membership of a particular social group, the ejusdem generis interpretation appears to be more suitable than the social perception approach. This is because; the latter is based on the principles of non-discrimination, which is in line with the object and purpose of the Convention. Nonetheless, while the US courts in Matter of Acosta got it right that the interpretation of a particular social group should be anchored to non-discrimination, what they got wrong is what non-discrimination was translated into. The US courts by translating non-discrimination into innateness/fundamental to identity deviated from the actual meaning of non-discrimination in international law. It is against this backdrop that this article focuses on researching the meaning of non-discrimination in international law to define a particular social group. The contribution of this article to the field of international refugee law is of two folds. First, it provides a definition of a particular social group, based on the actual meaning of non-discrimination in international law. Second and lastly, it provides how decision makers an use the definition in deciding asylum cases made on the basis of orientation.