In 2015, the United Kingdom recognised 85% of asylum seekers from Syria as refugees, whereas Russia granted this form of protection to only 0.2% of those fleeing Syria. This research is an attempt to look into this dilemma: why did two countries, both signatories of the 1951 Geneva Convention, treat people in similar situations in such drastically different ways? The study of these two meaningfully contrasting cases argues that such factors as a split administrative asylum procedure, the covert nature of asylum policy, the one-sided character of the country of origin information, double-differential risk requirements, and the lack of availability of legal aid can produce a decisive impact on the recognition rate. If implemented, these factors allow the foreign policy of the country to dominate international or national legal obligations in status adjudications. As a result, asylum procedures become dependent on changes in diplomatic relations, opening the door to some groups of ‘amicable’ asylum seekers or shutting it on ‘undesirable’ ones. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

United Kingdom Asylum Refugees Russia Syria

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