All by Katherine Luongo

‘Particular social group’ in historical focus: cultural knowledge in witchcraft-based asylum cases

In 2010, a Nigerian woman living in the UK sought refugee status on the ground that her abusive husband had publicly and vociferously labeled her a witch. Since the early 2000s, increasing numbers of African asylum seekers coming from across the continent to the global north have made witchcraft-based asylum claims. They argue that being accused of witchcraft renders them ‘members of a particular social group’ (PSG) and thus eligible for refugee protection under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. Cases like Uwaifo provide a fruitful terrain to consider how cultural understandings or misunderstandings complicate the process of determining who counts as a refugee.