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Contesting Entrapment: Women Asylum Seekers in Hong Kong

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Entrapping Asylum Seekers

Part of the book series: Transnational Crime, Crime Control and Security ((TCCCS))

Abstract

This chapter draws on qualitative research with a diverse sample of female asylum seekers in Hong Kong to reveal the gendered consequences of entrapment and the politico-legal forces that influence women’s asylum seeking. The chapter outlines how women perceive their own legal categorization and how they manage the precarious livelihoods that ensue from ‘doing time’ in this global city. Complex structural economic, social and political factors influence the arrival of women asylum seekers in Hong Kong. These factors give rise to both dynamic and blurred legal categories that the government’s recently established ‘unified screening mechanism’ for all humanitarian protection claimants has sought to disentangle. Processes aimed at sorting women into palatable legal categories permeate the daily lives of asylum seekers and govern their interactions with government and non-government organizations alike. The chapter extends the analysis of entrapment to actors beyond police and state agencies by examining the role of non-government organizations, companionship and employment as dimensions in which entrapment and its resistance occurs, elucidating the varied contradictions that women’s resistance to entrapment may produce.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951.

  2. 2.

    In an attempt to address the grossly disproportionate numbers of women excluded from refugee protection, the United Nations and a number of states such as Canada and Australia have formulated guidelines targeting decision-makers and encouraging an understanding of gender-related persecution.

  3. 3.

    The International Social Services (ISS) is the organization contracted by the Hong Kong Government to provide support to asylum seekers and torture claimants in Hong Kong.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Law and Justice, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia

    Alison Gerard

Authors
  1. Alison Gerard
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Francesco Vecchio

  2. Centre for Law and Justice, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia

    Alison Gerard

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© 2017 The Author(s)

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Gerard, A. (2017). Contesting Entrapment: Women Asylum Seekers in Hong Kong. In: Vecchio, F., Gerard, A. (eds) Entrapping Asylum Seekers. Transnational Crime, Crime Control and Security. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58739-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58739-8_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58738-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58739-8

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

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