5: Reasons for Persecution

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As we have seen in the preceding chapters, the Refugee Convention does not protect against all harm. For the convention to be engaged, the harm must reach the threshold necessary to amount to being persecuted. In some jurisdictions, the harm must also be accompanied by a failure of state protection. Even this is insufficient for a person to qualify as a refugee; there must also be a causal link between the persecution and the five specific reasons that engages the Refugee Convention. These reasons are often referred to as the ‘convention reasons’ or ‘convention grounds’ for convenience. They are race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group and political opinion. The convention grounds represent protected characteristics which the person concerned cannot or should not be expected to change. There are two broad themes to discuss in this chapter, which addresses these reasons. Firstly is the way in which the convention grounds operate within the scheme of the Refugee Convention. The issue of causation requires exploration, as does the way in which the convention grounds can transform some forms of serious harm into persecutory harm. Secondly is the meaning and scope of the individual convention grounds themselves. Their very existence indicates that the purpose of the Refugee Convention is limited and they can be and have been interpreted both narrowly and expansively.

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