Gescheiden werelden. De beoordeling van geloofwaardigheid van vluchtverhalen

Samenvatting

Separated Worlds. The Assessment of Credibility in Claims for Asylum. Decisions on claims for asylum made by the Immigration and Naturalization Dept largely draw on statements the applicants give in a 'first interview' and a 'substantive interview'. The consistency between the individual's accounts and between the accounts of family members is assumed to be a reliable indicator of credibility, though this assumption has been contradicted by medical and psychological research. Furthermore, the conditions under which asylum interviews are conducted call in to question the appropriateness of this consistency testing. Drawing on an ethnographic study of 90 asylum interviews, this chapter offers insights into the complex institutional, intercultural, and multilingual character of the encounters. In more than half of the interviews attended, serious communication problems were observed, which affected the fact-finding process. 42 References. Adapted from the source document.