Who Is a Refugee? Uncertainty and Discretion in Asylum Decisions

Development summary

Tone Maia Liodden’s article in the International Journal of Refugee Law examines how uncertainty in refugee status assessment creates room for discretion in the Norwegian asylum system. It shows that uncertainties about credibility, together with differing interpretations of evidence and legal rules, led decision-makers to develop a local system of distinction for separating applicants who were accepted from those who were refused. The article explains that this system reduced doubt by comparing cases and by recognising patterns of similarity and difference in earlier decisions.