Mulé, ‘Safe Haven Questioned’, 2020

Category: Literature
Source: Academic
Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Gender Identity, Refugee/Asylum, LGBT+
Place: Americas, Other
Year: 2020
URL: http://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2019.1639238

Nick J. Mulé, ‘Safe Haven Questioned: Proof of Identity Over Persecution of SOGIE Asylum Seekers and Refugee Claimants in Canada’, 2020 Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 18:2, 207-223

Abstract

Canada, being a country that recognizes sexual orientation and gender identity/expression (SOGIE) as grounds for asylum or refugee status, can appear initially to be a safe haven for those persecuted based on such characteristics. Yet, claimants are required to prove the SOGIE upon which the persecution of the person is reported to have been based. Given that essentialist and binary notions of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression are the criteria utilized, such policy imposes traditional Westernized notions of identity with homonational and recolonizing effects on individuals who are attempting to resettle in Canada.

Keywords:

Asylum seekers, Canada, homonationalism, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, recolonization, refugee claimants, sexual characteristics, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE)