Affirmative Exclusion? Sex, Gender, Persecution and the Reformed Swedish Aliens Act

This article focuses on the specific language in the Swedish Aliens Act which uses the term "persecution on account of sex" as opposed to the more common "gender-related persecution". This linguistic difference poses foreseeable problems and ambiguities which ultimately lead to questions of defining the particular range of the provision and whether it leads to discriminatory exclusion from other protection categories. The authors argue that the Swedish terminology fails to meet the requirements of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and article 2(a) of the Convention on the Elmination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women "to ensure through law the practical realization of the principle of equality of men and women". [Migration - Refugees and Immigration, International]