Who Is a Refugee? Uncertainty and Discretion in Asylum Decisions

Lunch webinar with Tone Liodden

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Tone Liodden. Photo: Private.

Assessing claims for refugee status is a task often riddled with uncertainties, not least because of the challenge of establishing the credibility of the claims. The uncertainties enable divergent interpretations of both evidence and legal rules, thereby constituting a space for discretion in the refugee status determination process.

This lunch webinar, hosted by the Research Group in Migration Law, will focus on uncertainty and discretion in the asylum system. Tone Liodden, Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR) at Oslo Metropolitan University will present her latest article “Who Is a Refugee? Uncertainty and Discretion in Asylum Decisions”.

The article explores how decision makers in the Norwegian asylum system reached a conviction about the outcome of asylum claims, despite numerous uncertainties. Liodden will present the argument that refugee status, in a context of uncertainty, is to some extent determined by producing a local yardstick of who ‘the refugee’ is.

The event is in English and will be moderated by Professor May-Len Skilbrei, vice-chair of the Research Group in Migration Law at the Faculty of Law.

Published May 25, 2021 9:23 AM - Last modified Oct. 10, 2022 11:54 AM