The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement: Why The U.S. Is Not a Safe Haven for Refugee Women Asserting Gender-Based Asylum Claims

This article discusses the impact of the safe third country agreement between Canada and the United States which came into effect in 2004. The paper argues that this agreement will prevent Canada from fully protecting women refugees' claims of gender-based persecution. The article begins by reviewing the substance of the Agreement of Canada and the Government of the United States of America for Cooperation in the Examination of Refugee Status Claims from Nations of Third Countries. The article then highlights some of the challenges facing female refugees and why they may prefer to make asylum claims in Canada. The third part of the article contains a detailed assessment of the procedural and jurisprudential elements of the US asylum system to demonstrate the barriers facing women attempting to put forward a claim for asylum under gender-based persecution. [Descriptors: Migration - Refugees and Immigration, Canada]