RC Passage 4 Explanation
This is an explanation for passage 4 of LSAT preptest 34, the June 2001 LSAT. This passage is about how gender based persecution may qualify someone as a refugee under UN rules.
This section has paragraph summaries and an analysis of the passage, links to the explanations for the questions are below.
Paragraph Summaries
- Women fall under the social group category if they apply as a refugee under UN rules.
- The original rules did not mention social groups. They were added under the UN Convention as a catch-all for refugees who did not qualify under any other category.
- UN documents such as the Handbook support a broad reading of “social group”
- The UNHCR’s broad position will probably help make national laws broader as well.
Analysis
The passage’s author seems to agree that women ought to be included as refugees, and that the social group category is a decent way to do that. Though they don’t say that explicitly.
Instead, the passage is a neutral discussion of how women can qualify as refugees, and how they came to be included in the category of “social group”.
(If a women if being persecuted because of her race or religion, she can apply under those categories instead, of course. “Social group” is for women who are persecuted because they are women.)
This RC section is very real. I saw a movie about the attorney Judy Wood, from LA who used this exact ” social group” definition and applied it in countless cases and ended up changing the legal interpretation of ” asylum” in the US. SHE changed the law, singlehandedly. She saved MILLIONS of women’s lives. She graduated law school in the 80’s, exactly when the UN decide to specify ” women” as part of ” social groups”… The movies is called ” Saint Judy”. Very inspirational, true movie and 100% related to what this passage describes. :)