Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Contributors -- Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction: Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the International Context - Rights and Realities -- Part one: development of the international system of refugee protection - rights -- The 'right' to seek asylum -- The 'right' not to be refouled -- Part two: development of the international system of refugee protection - realities -- The Cold War period -- 'Durable solutions' -- The post-Cold War period -- The IDP issue -- Protracted refugees -- International migration and the migration-asylum nexus -- Part three: the introduction of restrictive legal measures for asylum seekers -- Part four: conclusions - an intractable problem? -- 1 The Rule of Law and the Role of Law: Refugees and Asylum Seekers -- Part one: contested meanings, overlapping consensus on the rule of law -- Dworkin's interpretive theory of law as 'integrity' -- Rule of law issues -- Part two: integrity and adjudication -- Hart and Dworkin: theories of adjudication -- Judicial review and the democratic state -- Neutrality and judicial (institutional) independence -- Neutrality and procedural fairness -- Part three: the legislative principle -- Incorporation of treaty obligations -- Interpretation of treaty obligations -- Part four: liberty, equality, and fraternity: the rights of outsiders -- Liberal theory and the community -- Dworkin and the community -- Ethical arguments -- Part five: conclusions -- 2 Asylum and the Rule of Law in Canada: Hearing the Other (Side) -- Part one: the asylum seeker in the Canadian legal system -- Part two: the right to be heard -- Part three: the audibility of the asylum seeker in Canadian law -- The legal soundscape -- The audibility of the asylum seeker in law -- Who is listening? -- Making oneself heard -- Is anyone listening?.

Part four: keeping the asylum seeker out of earshot -- Part five: conclusions -- 3 Refugees, Asylum and the Rule of Law in the USA -- Part one: refugee and asylum law and practice in the USA -- The historical and constitutional basis for refugee protection -- The legislative framework -- The administrative and adjudicative structures -- The substantive criteria for refugee status -- Other avenues of humanitarian relief -- International human rights instruments -- Domestic remedies -- Part two: the rule of law -- Perceived abuse of the asylum system -- Impediments to access -- Substandard adjudication of asylum claims -- The independence of the adjudicators -- The immigration judges -- The BIA -- The courts -- The link between decisional independence and the rule of law -- The rule of international law -- Interdiction on the high seas -- Standard of proof -- The exclusion clauses -- Detention -- Criminal prosecutions -- Part three: conclusions -- 4 The Australian Story: Asylum Seekers outside the Law -- Part one: development of national legal responses to refugees and asylum seekers -- Refugees as constitutional 'aliens' -- Development of Australian refugee policy: offshore and onshore refugees -- Reform of the legal system for refugee status determination: the battle lines are drawn -- Part two: asylum seekers outside the rule of law -- Detention of 'aliens': Lim and the consequences of the mandatory detention policy -- Detention and human rights -- Community responses to the mandatory detention regime -- Further attempts to put asylum seekers outside the rule of law -- Incorporation of the Refugee Convention and 'protection obligations' under Australian law -- Incorporation of the Refugee Convention: a 'false but legislatively required step'?.

The non-refoulement obligation in Australian law: interpretation of Article 1E of the Refugee Convention and complementary protection -- Article 1C(5) and the TPV scheme -- Part three: interpretation of the refugee definition and legislative intervention - an Australia/New Zealand comparison -- 'Being persecuted' -- 'By reasons of ' - the 'nexus' requirement -- Part four: conclusions -- 5 The Intersection between the International, the Regional and the Domestic: Seeking Asylum in the UK -- Part one: context - a brief history of asylum law and policy in the UK -- Part two: the asylum seeker and refugee in the UK legal system -- Incorporation of the Refugee Convention into domestic law -- The UK's incorporation of the ECHR and EU asylum directives -- Incorporation of ECHR via the Human Rights Act 1998 -- Transposition of EU directives -- Administrative and constitutional structures -- Scrutiny of executive action by parliamentary committees, government bodies and NGOs -- Refugee status decision making in the UK today -- Refugee status determination in the UK -- Accelerated procedures and limited appeal rights -- Controversies within the Home Office and the 'New Asylum Model' -- Measures instituted to address Home Office problems -- Analysis of the above issues from the rule of law perspective -- Part three: analysis - the intersection between the international, regional and domestic: rule of law implications -- The UK and ECHR: national security concerns -- UK arguments as intervener -- Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights -- Analysis -- The EU Qualification Directive and the UK -- The EU Qualification Directive -- Implications for the rule of law -- Benefits of harmonization from a rule of law perspective -- Oversight by the European Court of Justice -- Influence of harmonized standards outside the EU -- Part four: conclusions.

6 Conclusions on the Rule of Law -- Part one: chapter highlights -- Part two: responses to Dworkin's framework -- Is there a coherent legislative principle? -- Of what significance is the method and extent of incorporation of the Refugee Convention and related international law and human rights instruments into the… -- Are differences in the constitutional and legislative frameworks significant? -- Nature and structure of decision making -- Decision making at the administrative level -- Judicial review -- How integral is the adjudicative process? What values underpin judicial reasoning? Are the courts deferential to executive policy in their approach to refugee law? -- Of what significance are differences in the constitutional and the human rights framework for the adjudicative role? -- What are the limits of the integrity principle? -- Part three: conclusions -- Appendix: Montreal 4 September 2006 The Asylum Seeker in the Legal System Project outline issues -- Bibliography -- Index.