Assessing Testimonial Evidence in Asylum Proceedings: Guiding Standards from the International Criminal Tribunals

Byrne, Rosemary

doi:10.1093/ijrl/eem056

Cited by 41 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…Without supporting documentation, the UNHCR specifies that credibility is determined by applicants' statements that are consistent, detailed, potentially verifiable, and as complete with relevant information as possible (2013, p. 90). Byrne (2007) estimated that up to 90% of all rejected asylum applications, worldwide, are dismissed on the grounds of adverse credibility findings. In Sweden, 38% of claims between 2009…”

Section: Asylum-seekersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Credibility for a Memory Report of a Single Versus Repeated Event

Weinsheimer

Coburn

Chong

et al. 2017

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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When a person experiences an event that has multiple similar instances (i.e., a repeated event), memories for details that change across instances can be challenging to recall (e.g., Fivush, 1984). We expected that third parties would perceive memory reports of instances of repeated events as less credible than unique (i.e., single) events.Undergraduates participated in a single or repeated event, during which critical details were presented. Participants were asked to recall the session 2-days later, and memory reports were video recorded. New participants then viewed one video and evaluated the credibility of the speaker's memory report. Despite the reports being equally accurate, repeated-event reports were seen as less credible than single-event reports. Although credibility research in the context of repeated events has focused exclusively on child populations, a range of applications exists for adults (e.g., criminal and industrial eyewitnesses, asylum-seekers); we discussed our findings in these areas.

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Section: Asylum-seekersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Credibility for a Memory Report of a Single Versus Repeated Event

Weinsheimer

Coburn

Chong

et al. 2017

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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“…The assessment of an asylum application is complicated by the general scarcity of evidence to corroborate the asylum seekers' narratives (e.g., Byrne, ; Gyulai, ; Noll, ; Rousseau, Crépeau, Foxen, & Houle, ; UNHCR, ). In many cases, asylum seekers cannot provide evidence of who they are, where they come from, or what has happened to them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, asylum officials usually have to rely on the statements of the asylum seeker and decide whether or not they trust those statements. Thereby, the credibility of the asylum seeker's story becomes the main focus of attention during the asylum procedure (e.g., Byrne, ; Doornbos, ; Gyulai, ; IND‐Werkinstructie nr. /14; Kagan, ; Noll, ; Sweeney, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interviewing asylum seekers: A vignette study on the questions asked to assess credibility of claims about origin and persecution

Veldhuizen

Horselenberg

Landström

et al. 2016

Journal Invest Psychology

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The aim of the current vignette study is to map the style, type, and themes of questions that are asked when assessing the credibility of asylum seekers' claims. Sixty-five officials from the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket), were asked to respond to one out of four different vignettes that contained fictitious asylum narratives. Each vignette presented the types of problems often encountered by officials at the migration board. Two of the vignettes contained no evidence of the origin of the asylum seeker. The other two contained no evidence for the claim of persecution. The asylum officials were asked to formulate five questions that would help them to assess the veracity of the applicant's claim. Our analyses showed that they mainly formulated open questions in an information gathering style. A thematic analysis of the questions revealed that when a claim about origin was assessed, asylum officials mostly asked questions about life in the country of origin, identity documents, and the flight to Europe. When the claim about persecution was assessed, in contrast, asylum officials mostly formulated casespecific questions (e.g., how the applicant was arrested). Hence, when the credibility of claims about origin is assessed, there seems to be a typical set of questions that asylum officials use. The asylum officials seem to assume that if the applicant is truly originating from a specific country or area, he or she should have ample knowledge about that area, its customs, and frequently encountered objects. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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“…Contacting the authorities in the home country to validate the asylum story may put the applicant or their relatives in danger. Consequently, in the assessment of asylum claims officials typically rely on the applicant's story and general knowledge of the country of origin (Byrne, 2007;.…”

Section: The Evidential Context In Asylum Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The assessment of an asylum application is complicated by the general scarcity of evidence to corroborate the asylum seekers' narratives (e.g., Byrne, 2007;Rousseau, Crépeau, Foxen, & Houle, 2002;United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2013). In many cases asylum seekers cannot provide evidence of who they are, where they come from, or what has happened to them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where I come from and how I got here

Veldhuizen

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People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the "Taverne" license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement:

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Assessing Testimonial Evidence in Asylum Proceedings: Guiding Standards from the International Criminal Tribunals

Cited by 41 publications

References 0 publications

Perceptions of Credibility for a Memory Report of a Single Versus Repeated Event

Perceptions of Credibility for a Memory Report of a Single Versus Repeated Event

Interviewing asylum seekers: A vignette study on the questions asked to assess credibility of claims about origin and persecution

Where I come from and how I got here

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