On March 28th Jane Herlihy visited the Institute of Immigration Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands, along with Marcelle Reneman of VU University, to give a presentation on credibility as part of a series of multi-disciplinary sessions for honours students on asylum law and policy. For today, we’ve handed the reins of the blog over to Marit Jansen, one of the students who took part. Here’s her report:
It was during the Asylum Law and Policies honours class that I first became aware of
the complicated relationship between law and emotion. I was oblivious to it
before; as an anthropologist emotion is a logical aspect of everything in my
studies. But it becomes clear on reflection why law and emotion
have such a troubled relationship. Since law has to be impartial, emotion can
complicate proceedings. On the other hand, especially in asylum law, where so
much is based on key concepts like ‘fear’ and ‘credibility’, emotion is an
unavoidable part of policy-making.
After looking into the complicated realm of
credibility assessment through the lens of Jane and Marcelle’s expert opinions,
it was time for our own contributions. We were asked to debate whether emotion
should have a role in asylum procedures, and were divided into groups for and
against this proposition. Most interestingly, neither side was fully happy with
what they had to argue. The pro-emotion side had the upper hand, but had to
acknowledge that emotions could overwhelm those involved in the process,
undermining objectivity. The anti-emotion side, whilst making a stronger case
for legal equality, could not find an argument that would support excluding
emotions from legal processes, since humans and emotions cannot be separated.
When push came to shove it turned out that
neither side in the debate was fully convincing. The trick was to find a way
not to exclude emotions, but also not to let emotions overwhelm the legal
context. Neither option would do justice to asylum seekers, or to the legal
process. Ultimately, we have to face that we are all human and emotional.
Finding a way to manage these emotions, and not only manage but learn how to
effectively utilise emotions in these contexts is a challenge for the future.
Marit
Jansen is a third-year undergraduate in Cultural Anthropology & Development
Sociology at Leiden University.
