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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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