4.2 Procedures for the Determination of Refugee Status

The determination's character: the status's recognition is declaratory (the refugee-hood's confirmation, not creation — the refugee exists before the recognition — the retroactivity's logic). The determination's actors: (i) the state's RSD (the primary duty — the 1951's assumption: the national procedures; the states' variety — the administrative-and-judicial models); (ii) the UNHCR's mandate-RSD (the non-state-party contexts — the Nepal-type situations: the mandate determination pending the solutions, Unit 8's practice). The fair procedure's discipline (the exam's list): The access — the registration's possibility; the information in the language understood; the interpreters; The interview — the qualified examiner; the confidentiality (the origin-state's non-disclosure); the vulnerable-persons' accommodations (the gender-and-age-sensitive interviewing; the trauma-informed craft); The evidence's assessment — the burden (the claimant's prima facie showing + the authority's duty-to-inquire); the benefit-of-the-doubt (the flight's reality — the documents' absence not fatal); the country-of-origin information's use; The decision — the reasoned ruling; the appeal's availability (the two-tier discipline — the fair hearing's requirement); The time — the reasonable speed (the years-long pendency's critique); The safety pendente — the non-refoulement during the process (the claim's pendency's protection). The individual vs the prima facie determination (the procedure's two modes): the individual RSD (the case-by-case assessment — the norm) vs the prima facie (the group recognition in the mass-influx — the obvious-circumstances' face; the efficiency rationale; the registration-based status) —…