the Day That Decides Everything: Asylum Seekers, Fear, and Politics of Refugee Status Determination

For millions of asylum seekers worldwide, everything depends on a single day - the day of their refugee status determination hearing. In that room, fear must be performed, proven, and believed. But what counts as credible fear? Who decides? And what political forces shape those decisions?In this landmark academic monograph, Yiombi Thona delivers a penetrating analysis of refugee status determination systems across multiple jurisdictions, revealing how legal frameworks, institutional cultures, and political pressures converge to determine the fate of the world's most vulnerable people. Drawing on more than two decades of academic research and international advocacy, the book examines how fear - the cornerstone of refugee protection - is constructed, assessed, and frequently misunderstood or deliberately minimized by decision-makers operating under political and bureaucratic pressures.The book interrogates credibility assessment practices, cross-cultural communication failures, and the gap between the letter of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its lived reality in contemporary proceedings. Essential reading for refugee law scholars, immigration judges, UNHCR protection officers, NGO practitioners, and advanced students of forced migration and international human rights law.

Pagina's: 486, Paperback, Diaspora Academy Press