Canadian Guidelines on Women Refugees

Developments in contemporary international refugee law are increasingly recognizing the need for gender sensitivity. The Canadian Guidelines on Women Refugees (1993) is a recognition of this phenomenon. The paper reviews the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol in order to show how the Guidelines have moved away from gender neutral to gender inclusiveness language. The paper then proceeds to examine the grounds of persecution, the assessment of fear, evidentiary issues, and the impact of the Guidelines beyond Canada. [Descriptors: Migration - Refugees and Immigration, Canada]