II.2.5.2.2 Credibility

Main Debate

Can an assessment of credibility that is adapted to the symptoms of persecution distinguish between fraudulent and genuine asylum claims?

Main Points

  • Linguistic, psychological, and cultural barriers to credibility assessment
  • Frequent absence of documentary or corroborative evidence

Readings

Core

  1. J. Hathaway and M. Foster, The Law of Refugee Status, 2nd edn, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), pp. 136-161.
  2. R. Byrne, ‘Assessing Testimonial Evidence in Asylum Proceedings: Guiding Standards from the International Criminal Tribunals’, International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 19, no. 4 (2007), pp. 609–638.
  3. H. Cameron, ‘Refugee Status Determinations and the Limits of Memory’, International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 22, no. 4, (December 2010) pp. 469–511.
  4. J. Herlihy, K. Gleeson, and S. Turner, ‘What Assumptions About Human Behaviour Underlie Asylum Judgments?’, International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 22, no. 3 (2010), pp. 351–366.
  5. J. Sweeney, ‘Credibility, Proof and Refugee Law’, International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 21, no. 4 (2009), pp. 700–726.

Extended

  1. S. Rempel, Gauging Credibility in Immigration Proceedings: Immaterial Inconsistencies, Demeanor, and the Rule of Reason,Georgetown Immigration Law Journal (Winter 2011), vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 377-406.
  2. S. Norman, ‘Assessing the Credibility of Refugee Applicants: A Judicial Perspective’, International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 19, no. 2 (2007), pp. 273–292.
  3. Refugee Review Tribunal (Australia), ‘Guidance on the Assessment of Credibility’, March 2012.
  4. J. Cohen, ‘Questions of Credibility: Omissions, Discrepancies and Errors of Recall in the Testimony of Asylum Seekers’, International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 13, no. 3 (July 2001), pp. 293–309.
  5. A. Macklin, ‘Truth or Consequences: Credibility Determinations in the Refugee Context’, in The Realities of Refugee Determination on the Eve of a New Millennium: The Role of the Judiciary, IARLJ Conference (Ottawa: International Association of Refugee Law Judges, 14–16 October 1998).
  6. W. Kälin, ‘Troubled Communication: Cross-cultural Misunderstandings in the Asylum Hearing’, International Migration Review, vol. 20, no. 2 (1986), pp. 230–241.

Editor’s Note

See Section VI.2.4.5.1, for European practice concerning credibility.

 II.2.5.2.2 CredibilityII.2.5.2.2 Credibility