· Governments should ensure that national laws against sexual violence are diligently enforced in refugee camps in their territories, in accordance with the relevant international legal obligations. Governments should also vigorously investigate all allegations of abuse of power by government employees and promptly punish those found responsible. To facilitate effective prevention and investigation of sexual violence against refugee women and girls, female police officers and immigration officials should be assigned to refugee camps and border crossing points.
· Governments should take steps to ensure that their asylum adjudicators recognize gender-based persecution, including sex-specific abuse, as grounds for political asylum under refugee law. Asylum should be granted in cases where there is well-founded fear of persecution that constitutes a type of harm that is particular to or due to the applicant's gender, as discussed above.
· Governments should adopt guidelines to assist asylum adjudicators to evaluate gender-related persecution as a basis for asylum. The adjudicators should be trained, among other things: to recognize the sensitivity of interviewing victims of sexual violence; to be patient with female applicants to overcome inhibitions, particularly regarding sexual abuse; to interview women separately from men and privately; recognize that women who have been sexually assaulted may sufferfrom Rape Trauma Syndrome and that these symptoms may influence how an applicant responds during the interview.
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