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CALS Asylum Case Research

Introduction

This page describes some basic sources for research on behalf of individuals seeking asylum in the United States. It was designed for use by students at the Center for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), the asylum law clinic at Georgetown Law Center. However, this page is also being provided to the public through the Internet. It was developed and is maintained by the librarians of the John Wolff International and Comparative Law Library at Georgetown Law Center.

Most of the links available from this Guide are accessible online without charge, though a few of the links are to subscription databases and are available only to their subscribers. Also, not all reference sources pertinent to asylum cases are online. Therefore, this Guide also includes references to useful print materials. All call numbers and locations refer to the location of materials at Georgetown Law Library. Materials marked with Try It are recommended and have been very useful to the librarians.

General Research Tips

A good deal of the research you will be doing involves locating legal and factual information in various countries. While there are many tools to assist you, there are a few things to consider before you jump in.

  • Consider the time period. This is important when deciding which resources to search. If you are dealing with situations before 1996, searching free web sites may not be productive. Most of the information posted on the web does not go back that far.
  • If you located something useful on the web, bookmark it, download it or print it off. There is no guarantee that the material or the site will be there the next day.
  • When using the web, determine the quality of information you find. Consider some of the following: objectivity, expediency, timeliness, accuracy, authenticity, and scope.
  • You will need to consult both legal and non-law sources. For researching country conditions, you will need to consult non-law sources such as newspapers, journal articles, directories, yearbooks, etc. This includes verifying spelling (alternate spelling) or names, and determining the exact name of organizations and political parties. If you need legal information (national legislation, international instruments, case law), you may need to search difference sources.
  • If you are researching factual information, you will have to slough through many resources to even locate a nugget. You may have to use a combination of resources. Some of the best information may be buried in an article or a report. The only way to locate the information is to review the material carefully.
  • Not everything is available on the web. Some of the tools you will use will only identify possible sources and then you will need to go to a print version and read through the material.
  • Don't forget people and organizations. You may need to email or pick up the phone.
  • Keep in mind, no matter how hard you look, you may not find anything.
  • Do not hesitate to contact one of the librarians in the Wolff Library. To schedule an appointment simply email or give us a ring at (202) 662-4195.

Country Conditions

One major component of your research will be confirming the details of the client's persecution and other country conditions. Some examples include: was there a violent demonstration on a certain day, or do certain tribal groups require widow's to marry their husband's brother, or are members of a certain political party beaten and jailed? You may have to consult a myriad of resources including newspapers, human rights reports, and foreign governmental reports.

Main Sites

  • Asylumlaw.org
    A site with several kinds of materials, including human rights reports on several countries by the governments of the UK and other countries. It provides resources for case support, legal research, and links to other relevant sites. There is also a meta-search engine called Super-Search which allows users to search multiple web sites and resources at once. The site now includes about 40 information packets on country conditions from the Human Rights Documentation Exchange. They can be found by browsing the documents in the Case Support section. Briefs, an expert witness database, and a discussion forum are available by registering on the site. Registration is free.
  • Country of Origin Research (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada) Try It
    Extensive research collected by the Canadian government on human rights abuses in many countries. The site includes Issue Papers and Extended Responses, and a section called recent research. The Responses to Information Requests (RIRs) database is a compilation of responses to requests for information submitted to the Research Directorate in the course of the refugee protection determination process. These questions are very similar to CALS research. RIR reports prior to 2003 are found on Refworld web site above.
  • European Country of Origin Information Network - ECOI
    This site compiles and provides access to recent country information specifically geared to asylum claims. Select a country and browse the documents or add additional search terms to narrow your results
  • Forced Migration Online
    Forced Migration Online is a comprehensive resource coordinated by the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford with the help of international advisors. The group includes under the term of "forced migration" displacement due to war, development, and disaster. Documentation can be accessed using the button menu for regional resources, thematic resources, and working papers. FMO is building a digital library using the specialized collections of institutional partnerships and provides full text searching and access to these documents. Research guides are also provided for several jurisdictions. A very good resource.
  • Refworld Try It
    Finally available on the web! Refworld is vast collection of country information, reports, policy documents, national legislation, maps, position papers, case law, and much more. The simplest method to access information is to use the country name and then use "filter" to refine the results. Use the advanced search screen for more targeted research. The Special Features portion of the welcome screen offers topics such as children, women, refugee status determination, and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
    Much of the information on this web site has migrated to Refworld, but there are still some useful sources such as maps or research and evaluation. The advanced search function is a useful tool to search across multiple segments of the web site to access UNHCR documents, news stories, press releases, and other relevant material.

Resource Information Center
Asylum Division, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services

The Resource Information Center (RIC) serves both Asylum Officers and Refugee Adjudicators and is responsible for the collection, production and distribution of materials regarding human rights conditions around the world. RIC is neutral between USCIS Counsel and applicants' representatives and its officials are very friendly and helpful. They produce some excellent reports that can be found on the Department of Homeland Security web site. This web site has recently undergone changes and it is very difficult to navigate. Some reports can be found under Asylum Resource and check all three series. Also, try searching for these reports using advanced search entering the country name and limiting to resources.

RIC is located at 20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.  It is technically not open to the public, but in practice, it permits representatives of asylum applicants to visit by appointment. To make an appointment, call 202-272-1609.

Advocates should be polite in dealing with RIC staff and respect their need to do their own work even though they may be willing to answer your questions. Also, RIC staff prefer that advocates not phrase questions to staff members adversarially. It is more appropriate to ask "Do you have some materials on guerrilla movements in Peru?" and not "How could I argue that my client's brief participation in a guerrilla movement in Peru should not bar asylum?" The RIC collection includes reports, periodicals and yearbooks by all of the major human rights groups; the manuals for Asylum Officers training courses; boxes on particular subjects such as "homosexuals" and "gender issues"; and very detailed country conditions information organized by country such as:

  • Index Media Reviews, produced by the Canadian government. These are all of the current media reports, downloaded weekly from Nexis, on Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia, China, Croatia, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Russia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yugoslavia and Zaire.
  • Newspapers and magazines on human rights conditions in many countries and regions. Some of the most recent issues may not yet have been shelved, so do ask for help.
  • For each country, a book called "A Country Study" (e.g., "Angola: A Country Study"), which, although outdated for country conditions, includes good information on what groups and nationalities exist in the country and is therefore useful in making claims of persecution based on nationality .
  • Boxes for each country in the world with very detailed published information about human rights abuses in those countries. If there are recent cables from US Embassies containing information that may be relevant for asylum cases, those cables will be in the country box.
  • The latest State Department updates of "country condition profiles," and this may be the only place in the country where they are available. Even those that eventually make it to the Refworld come to the RIC long before they are on Refworld.

Reports (government, IGO, NGO)

News Sources

  • Access World News (Georgetown only)
    This database provides articles from over 700 electronic editions of newspapers from around the world.
  • Ethnic News Watch (Georgetown Only)
    Full-text bilingual (Spanish and English) collection of newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Includes articles editorials, columns, and reviews which provide a broad diversity of perspectives and viewpoints.  Coverage is back at least to 1994.
  • FBIS Daily Reports Digital Collection (Georgetown only) NEW!
    This Foreign Broadcast Information Service collection consists of translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals and government statements from nations around the globe for the 1979-1996 time period. This is an incredible resource if your research is during that time period. If the digital collection is unavailable, we also have the documents on microfiche in the Wolff Library. Use the FBIS electronic index to search for materials and then locate the correct fiche. For news after 1996, try World News Connection or other resources referenced below.
  • Online Newspapers
    Provides links to newspapers from all over the world. Good resource for learning which newspapers exist in a particular country. See also Newspaper Links (select "International Newspapers").
  • World News Connection (Georgetown Only) Try It
    An online foreign news service from the U.S. government offering an extensive array of translated and English-language news and information. Coverage begins with 1995 and articles are compiled from thousands of non-U.S. media sources around the world. World News Connection covers significant socioeconomic, political, scientific, technical, and environmental issues and events. Also available on Westlaw (WNC), but coverage begins only in 2003.
  • Lexis (Georgetown only)
    There are numerous news sources available from the News & Business tab. Try under both regional and individual jurisdictions. Coverage and news sources vary greatly depending on the region and country.
  • Westlaw (Georgetown only)
    There are many useful databases for news research. The databases listed below have been very useful, but you should also use the Westlaw Directory > International/Worldwide Materials > select region and then country. There you will find a complete listing of news sources for a particular country.
    • INTNEWS Try It
      Combination database that includes full-text, English-language articles and English-language abstracts for non-English-language sources with news and business information from newspapers, magazines, trade journals, newsletters, and news services. Coverage varies by publication. (directory > international/worldwide materials > multi-national materials > business & news). Note: the default date limit is the past three years. Be sure to specify an earlier date range if needed.
    • ALLAFRICACOM
      Covers political, economic, and social developments in Africa. Coverage begins 01/2000. There is also ALLAFRFR for searching African news in French. Note that AllAfrica.com is on the web, but only today's news is available for free. Use Westlaw to search past news.
    • AFP-ENG (Agence France Presse English Wire)
      Full-text articles in English relating to national, international, business, and sports news, distributed worldwide. Begins with October 1999. There is also an Agence France Presse French (AFP-FR) available for searching in French.

Other Useful Databases

  • AccessUN (Georgetown Only)
    Readex United Nations Index is a comprehensive index of current and retrospective (1945 - current) U.N. documents and publications. This can be a good place to find the UN symbol number for a particular document. Some full-text documents are available.
  • HURISEARCH
    This is a human rights search engine developed by the Human Rights Information and Documentation System (HURIDOCS) and searches 3000 human rights web sites indexing only those pages with a main focus on human rights.
  • United Nations Official Document System (ODS)
    This is a fully searchable electronic repository for UN materials which offers full text documents issued since 1993 along with resolutions and decisions adopted by the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the Trusteeship Council since 1946. Documents are presented in image format with easy printing. This web site provides us with invaluable and speedy access to UN documents, but it can be difficult to search without a document number. You may need to use the AccessUN electronic index to locate the document number.
  • University Of Minnesota Human Rights Library
    Provides links to over 800 web sites and full text primary human rights treaties, instruments, and reports. The Refugee and Asylum Resources section and the list of country conditions reports are particularly helpful. Bluebook citations are provided.

Journals & Indexes

Journal articles can a very useful for documenting county conditions. Westlaw and Lexis provide full text coverage of American law reviews, but you should consider searching European legal and non-legal journals listed below as well as non-legal journal databases. Also, you may need to use indexes which are more comprehensive than the full text databases on Westlaw and Lexis. For other indexes, see the Library's journal indexes page.

  • Academic Search Premier (Georgetown Only)
    Provides full text for over 4,600 publications covering academic areas of study including social sciences, humanities, education, and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies. Over 8,200 titles are abstracted and indexed, of which approximately 3,600 are peer-reviewed. Coverage: 1975 – present.
  • Cambridge University Press Journals (Georgetown Only)
    Full text access to journals published by Cambridge University Press. Search by title, abstract, or by full text. You can also limit by journal title or subject. Some relevant subjects besides law include African studies, history, latin american studies and history.
  • Jstor (Georgetown Only)
    This database includes the full text of the articles from 340 scholarly paper journals. Searching is available across all bibliographic fields and in the full text. There can be useful information in the African, Asian, and Latin American area studies journals as well anthropology, population studies, and sociology. Coverage excludes articles from the most recent 3 to 5 years.
  • Legal Periodicals and Books (formerly ILP) and Legal Resource Index (Georgetown Only)
    These are two indexes (meaning not full text) that are more comprehensive than the full text on Westlaw and Lexis. These are not full text, so you can be somewhat general with your search terms.
  • Oxford University Journal Press Journals (Georgetown Only)
    Online access to journals covering legal, regional affairs, social sciences, and other subjects. Search by title, abstract, or by full text. You can also limit by journal title or subject.

Want to find out if you can get electronic access to a journal article through the library? Just search for the title of the journal in Gulliver and look for the computer icon and any call number with the word electronic.  You can also check the E-Journal Finder from the library homepage under Databases. The E-Journal Finder even tells you if a journal is available on Lexis and Westlaw. To use the E-Journal Finder, type in the name of the journal, and see what sources will give you full-text electronic access. If we don't have the journal electronically, you can request the article through interlibrary loan.

Resources on Torture

Resources on Gender

  • Contemporary Women's Issues (Georgetown Only)
    More than 1500 sources published by over 200 organizations around the world dealing with women's issues in over 190 nations. Coverage begins with sources from 1992 with more than 150 periodicals in addition to non-periodical source publications.
  • Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
    This organization supports women asylum seekers and has many useful resources. CGRS prepares research memos and detailed packets on country conditions. You can search for nationality or type of persecution, but then must fill out a form to receive the actual document.
  • Gender Watch (Georgetown Only)
    GenderWatch is a full-text database of publications on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas. GenderWatch supports programs in business, education, literature and the arts, health sciences, history, political science, public policy, sociology and contemporary culture, gender and women's studies and more. Publications include academic and scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, booklets and pamphlets, conference proceedings, and government, NGO and special reports.  Some of the materials in this database date back to the 1970's.
  • International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
    The Asylum Documentation Program, which produces country conditions packets, has now been transferred to Asylumlaw.org.  IGLHRC provides country information that can be useful.

Other Useful Sites

  • Asylum Aid
    This is a charitable organization which provides advice and representation to asylum seekers in the United Kingdom. There are excellent reports on researching country conditions and guidance on seeking asylum. Look under the Publications, Policy, and Campaigns tab for a complete listing.
  • ReliefWeb
    The focus is on humanitarian and disaster emergencies, but they serve as a gateway to documents and links collected from a variety of sources.

Foreign Legislation & Cases

Information on foreign citizenship and immigration laws can be useful in asylum research. The Law Library collects primary legal materials for some countries, but also acquires secondary sources for many other jurisdictions. The sources below are a good starting point to locate resources. For extensive information on researching foreign law, please see our Foreign and Comparative Law Research Guide.

  • Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
    This organization supports women asylum seekers and has many useful resources. CGRS maintains databases of US and foreign asylum cases, summaries of unpublished cases and US briefs. You may have to fill out a form to receive the actual document.
  • Constitutions of the Countries of the World (Georgetown Only)
    Also known as CCW, this database contains the full text of constitutions (in English) from 190 countries, plus introductory and historical notes. Best used with Internet Explorer and please log off when finished. The print edition of this is available in the library. For older constitutions, come to the Wolff reference desk as the library does maintain an archive of the print version. (GULC only)
  • Foreign Law Guide (Georgetown Only) Try It
    This guide is the primary source for information on the sources of law for many foreign jurisdictions. It provides the researcher with relevant information on sources of foreign law, including complete bibliographic citations to legislation, the existence of English translations whenever possible, and selected references to secondary sources in English. It is arranged by country and includes an introduction to the legal system of that country as well as the availability of codes, session laws, and court reports. Each chapter contains a section arranged by subject that outlines the major laws for a given subject and provides references to English translations, when available. (GULC only)
  • Michigan Refugee Case Law Site
    This site, prepared by the University of Michigan Law School, collects and indexes cases on refugee and asylum issues from the highest national courts of Austria, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For searching case law, use the Guided Search page.
  • Refworld Legal Collection Try It
    This section of Refworld has an impressive collection of foreign legislation often translated into English and in pdf. Coverage varies by jurisdiction. Select country for easy access.
  • World Legal Information Institute (WorldLii) Try It
    This web site is joint project of several academic legal information institutes providing access to resources from over 120 countries. The simplest way is to click on all countries and select the specific country of interest. Then, see what is available under the topics legislation, courts & case law, and parliament to see what is available. Alternatively, you can search by database across jurisdictions. Note: this page may be slow, but the content is worth the wait.

U.S. Immigration Law & Procedure

The Law Library has a research guide, U.S. Immigration Legal Research, which provides complete details on this area of U.S. law. The selected sources below are offered here as they are some of the more popular resources. Please consult the immigration research guide for more information.

General Asylum Law Resources

  • Asylee Eligibility for Resettlement Assistance - Updated Guide 2008
    Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) recently updated its short guide to asylee eligibility. The guide is designed to give service providers the tools and information needed to address the barriers to resettlement and integration faced by aisles and to better assist their clients. The guide contains crucial and timely information about the benefits and services for which asylees are eligible, including job placement assistance, English language classes, health screening, cash assistance, social security cards, employment authorization cards, adjustment of status, I-94s, travel authorization, petitioning for immediate relatives, and federal student financial aid.
  • Regina Germain, AILA's Asylum Primer : A Practical Guide to U.S. Asylum Law and Procedure (4th ed.) Williams KF4836 .G37 2007
    This book is a good basic asylum guide. It includes a nice overview of the asylum process, flags issues, examines U.S. asylum law, and includes practice pointers, sample documents, checklists, charts and resources. It should not be used as a substitute for in-depth treatises on asylum and refugee law.
  • Human Rights First - Refugee Protection
    HRF produces various reports on asylum topics. The site also includes letters, statements, memoranda and recommendations that have been included in communications with the DOJ, BIA, DHS and other governments entities.
  • David A. Martin, Asylum Case Law Sourcebook : Master Index and Case Abstracts for U.S. Court Decisions (5th ed.) INTL REF KF4836.A53 M37 2007
    This book has abstracts (with citations to the full cases) of every federal court decision in an asylum case from 1980 through 2004. It is organized by year but indexed by issues decided, countries involved, and case names. A master list of categories appears in the front. Unfortunately, it does not include any decisions (published or unpublished) of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Note also the caveat in the pre-introduction, warning that some cases have been overruled by court decisions or the 1996 statute. Finally, keep in mind that it does not include the many decisions favorable to asylum-seekers decided by Courts of Appeal, especially the Ninth Circuit, after 1997.
  • Migration Information Source - Asylum Data Tools
    A hard data site with an interactive interface that can help you answer the questions: How many asylum seekers are there? Where are asylum seekers going? and Where are asylum seekers coming from?
  • Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status INTL K3230.R45 H36 1992
    A guide to the definition of "refugee" under the 1951 Convention. (It is not binding on U.S. judges, but it is often persuasive.) This handbook is also available on the UNHCR web site. Note that some provisions of the Convention have been further interpreted by decision of the Executive Committee. These decisions are posted on the UNHCR web site.

Government Information

Key Government Entities

Government Forms and Instructions

General Immigration
Asylum Application
Removal Hearing
Post-Adjudication

Interviewing, Counseling, Fact Investigation and Other Practice Skills

There are many fine books on legal skills and only those most relevant to our work are listed here. Although some of these titles are old, they are considered classics on this topic.

  • Robert M. Bastress and Joseph D. Harbaugh, Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiating Williams KF311 .B37 1990
    This book is used in a large number of law school courses on these subjects, throughout the country.
  • Gary Bellow and Bea Moulton, The Lawyering Process Williams KF282 .B4 1978
    Probably the greatest book ever written on how to do the things lawyers do (followed by hundreds of questions about whether they make sense, and whether they are ethical). Fine chapters on interviewing, case planning, fact gathering, counseling, and other aspects of practicing law.
  • David A. Binder, Lawyers as Counselors: A Client-Centered Approach Williams KF311 .B52 2004
    This is one of the leading book on legal interviewing and counseling. It seeks to present a model in which lawyers let clients do more of the leading than many lawyers typically permit.
  • David A. Binder and Paul Bergman, Fact Investigation : From Hypothesis to Proof Williams KF8935 .B5 1984
    A model (complete with many charts) of how to think about and organize the search for facts in order to win a case.
  • Steven Lubet, Modern Trial Advocacy : Analysis and Practice (2nd edition) Williams KF8915 .L82 2004
    This book, published by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, stresses the importance of theory and analysis in the trial process. Rather than providing "recipes" for the various parts of a trial, this book emphasizes the many ways to think about the delivery of argument, the presentation of evidence, and the development of ideas at trial.
  • Thomas A. Mauet, Trial Techniques (6th edition) Williams KF8915 .M38 2007
    A leading book on how to present a case in court. It includes formulas for meeting all possible evidentiary objections, many of which are not necessary in asylum cases. On the other hand, it also has plenty of good advice on how to present a persuasive case through witness testimony and how to use cross-examination effectively.
  • Peter Murray, Basic Trial Advocacy Williams KF8915 .Z9 M87 1995
    This book systematically examines the rationales underlying the various trial techniques, in order to teach law students to understand why trial lawyers do what they do and design their presentations based on this knowledge, rather than copy standard practices. It is focused on the presentation process during the trial itself, and emphasizes the centrality of ethical decision-making in trial practice.

Other Research Guides

Want more information about researching asylum law? These other research guides may help. And don't forget: Georgetown Law Library offers research guides on many other related topics (e.g. Immigration & Human Rights on the Internet, Refugee Protection, Human Rights, United Nations, Immigration Law (U.S.) and more!


Revised September 2009 (mms)


© Georgetown University Law Library.
The guides may be freely downloaded and adapted for educational purposes, as long as proper credit is given. The guides may not be sold.

 

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