Gender, Refugee Status and Permanent Settlement

This article focuses on the extent to which gender constitutes a key determinant in generating refugee flows and providing humanitarian assistance. The author begins by noting that although women constitute the majority of the refugee population, they are a comparatively small number of refugee claimants in receiving states. The article proceeds to review the international legal regime and its slow incorporation of the specific issues facing women within refugee law. The article then proceeds to review two initiatives in Canada which attempt to account for the gender discrimination faced by women in advancing their refugee claims: the Guidelines on Gender-Related Persecution and the Women-at-Risk program. The author concludes by noting that although both of these programs have brought some benefits for women, women refugee claimants remain vulnerable to violations of their rights. [Descriptors: Migration - Refugees and Immigration, International, Canada]