About us
RSDWatch.org is a project of Asylum Access, a US non-profit organization dedicated to making refugee rights a reality in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
RSDWatch was launched originally in February 2005, part of a widening effort by grassroots refugee rights organizations to promote reform of the way UNHCR conducts refugee status determination.
Michael Kagan, who created and manages the website, teaches immigration and refugee law at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He was previously a founding board member and later policy director of Asylum Access.
RSDWatch aims to raise awareness about the way the UN High Commissioner for Refugees conducts refugee status determination (RSD), to promote fairness, transparency and accountability in refugee status determination, and to provide a forum in which to discuss the protection challenges associated with UNHCR RSD. We also strive to be a resource for advocates trying to assist asylum-seekers in the dozens of countries where UNHCR performs RSD. Advocates and refugees who encounter UNHCR RSD often have difficulty finding basic reference documents and statistics on UNHCR’s RSD procedures because they are scattered, un-indexed, and in some cases not even published.
Accuracy, Completeness and Fairness
The aim of this website is to collect and disseminate accurate and credible information about the way the UN refugee agency conducts refugee status determination. But that does not mean RSDWatch aims for neutrality on key issues. We think it common sense, not to mention a matter of right and law, that when an asylum-seeker who might be in danger of persecution pleads for protection, her fate should be decided in a procedure that is fair, transparent and accountable.
We believe that UNHCR’s refugee status determination procedures should meet minimum standards of due process. UNHCR should live up to, and if possible exceed, the standards of fairness it promotes for governments. UNHCR’s RSD operations are critical because lives depend on them, and because UNHCR sets an example for states, especially for governments in the geopolitical south.
We consider ourselves to be allies of UNHCR in promoting refugee rights around the world, but this website would not have been launched if UNHCR’s RSD procedures did not need to improve. UNHCR has promised progressive reform of its RSD procedures, and we aim to support this effort. That means that we try to be fair; when UNHCR does well, we say so. When reform bogs down, we say so. And when UNHCR stands by policies that treat refugees unfairly, we say so.
Forum: We are willing to be a forum for constructive discussion and debate about UNHCR RSD issues, and from time to time will publish commentaries with which RSDWatch may or may not agree. If you are interested in writing a commentary for RSDWatch, contact us at rsdwatch@asylumaccess.org.
Accuracy: Above all, we want to be factual and reliable. Unless we can confirm our information, we don’t say anything at all. We can make mistakes, because we are human, but we will try to correct them. And we ask our readers: If you think you’ve caught a mistake on our site, please write to us.
If you have documents or information that should be part of this site, or if you believe something on the site to be in error or incomplete, please write to us.
Using RSDWatch material: We encourage others to publicly discuss UNHCR RSD issues. RSDWatch is a free site, and so we encourage others to use our material free of charge, so long as the source is cited clearly. We request that other internet sites provide a link to RSDWatch when they use our material, as we do when RSDWatch refers its readers to other sites on the Internet.
