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Healing Voices







                        If immigration officials decide these individuals have not faced true persecution in the
                        legal sense, they are sometimes immediately deported in a procedure known as expedited
                        removal. Others may be detained. Tens of thousands are held in detention in the U.S.,
                        Canada, and around the world for months or years as their status is decided. Others remain
                        outside detention centers and proceed through a legal process that can take years.

                 Defining Torture and Violence                 Throughout this process, asylum seekers face
                                                               tremendous challenges as they may or may not
                 UNHCR encourages a broad interpretation of
                 the terms “torture” and “violence” when consid-  be entitled to any, or only some, of the government
                 ering the resettlement needs of refugees who   benefits available to residents or even refugees.
                 have suffered extreme forms of abuse.         Around the world, every country has its own
                                                               laws or policies related to asylum seekers and
                 Violence itself is an extremely diffuse and com-  the benefits or services they receive. In Europe,
                 plex phenomenon, and defining it is not an ex-  for example, where European Union (EU) law
                 act science. Notions of what is acceptable and   provides some protections for asylum seekers, the
                 unacceptable in terms of behaviour and what
                 constitutes harm, are culturally influenced and   housing, support and other benefits, such as work
                 constantly under review as values and social   permits, that asylum seekers receive vary from
                 norms evolve. A useful definition has however   country to country.
                 been produced by the World Health Organiza-
                 tion:                                         In the U.S. asylum seekers are not eligible for
                                                               government benefits of any kind and at this
                 Violence is “the intentional use of physical   time (2022) are not eligible to apply for work
                 force or power, threatened or actual, against   authorization until 150 days after their application
                 oneself, another person, or against a group or   for asylum is received by immigration authorities
                 community, that either results in or has a high   (if the work authorization is accompanied by a
                 likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psycho-  membership card to the Asylum Seeker Advocacy
                 logical harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.”
                                                               Project) or otherwise, 365 days after their
                                   —UNHCR, 2011, p. 251        application for asylum is received (USCIS, 2022).
                        In Canada, by contrast, and some other countries, refugee/asylum claimants are eligible
                        for social assistance, education, health services, emergency housing and legal aid while
                        the decision on their claim is pending. The majority can also apply for a work permit after
                        they complete a medical examination.

                        In the United States, an individual may become an asylee (essentially a refugee who
                        receives refugee status after, and not before, entering the U.S.) after being granted asylum
                        following an interview by an officer from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
                        If not approved at the initial interview, the asylum seeker may be referred to court for a
                        defensive hearing before an immigration judge who will make the decision.

                        Once an asylum seeker has obtained asylum, that person is referred to as an asylee in the
                        United States and as a refugee in most other countries.

                        In Canada, all eligible refugee claimants receive a hearing at the Immigration and Refugee
                        Board (IRB), and independent, quasi-judicial tribunal. After receiving a favorable decision
                        on their refugee claim, claimants receive protected person status, meaning the person is



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