Annotation:
The starting point for this paper is that women refugees are unable to benefit equitably from legal protection and social assistance. The legal obstacles facing women are both substantive and procedural. The position paper proposes development in the immigration and refugee law of the European Union to better address gender issues in refugee determination. On a procedural basis there is often a lack of information on the specific human rights situation facing women in the countries from which they are seeking refuge. The paper contains extensive recommendations on both the procedural and substantive aspects of addressing refugee claims of women. [Descriptors: Migration - Refugees and Immigration, International - Europe]