Connors, Jane

"In recent years, calls have been made, particularly from within the non-governmental organization community, to strengthen the mechanisms which currently exist for the protection and enforcement of the human rights of women. One of the demands made is that the Women's Convention be strengthened by the addition of a complaints mechanism, in the form of an optional protocol, which would allow individual women to bring complaints before the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

This article discusses the international response to the protection of women refugees and in particular considers the impact of feminist commentators and the women's human rights movement in forwarding this issue. The author considers the definition of refugee under the 1951 Convention, with particular emphasis on gender as constituting a social group. To illustrate, the author reviews leading Canadian, United States and Australian cases which have considered sex or gender alone, or with other characteristics, in defining social group.