Preparing for Your RSD Interview

Preparing for Your RSD Interview

Agenda (1 hr.) • Introduction/icebreaker (10 min.) • What the UNHCR Wants to Know • Prior to the Interview • Introduction to the Interview • Problems with Interviewer/Interpreter • Telling Your Story • Being questioned • End of the Interview • After the Interview • Activity: Role Play (20 min.)

What the UNHCR wants to know: • Why did you leave your country? • Why are you afraid to return? • What might happen to you if you did return? • Why you have been targeted? • Is what happened to you persecution? • If so, is it persecution based on one of the five Convention grounds?

What the UNHCR wants to know (cont.): • Are you fleeing generalized violence rather than targeted persecution? Extra Note: • UNHCR is testing you to see if your claim is credible and plausible so they will ask you detailed questions about your country and your situation

Prior to the Interview • Take all your original documents with you and be prepared to answer questions about them • Include copy of your statement • Include your UNHCR asylum seeker’s certificate • ARRIVE ON TIME • Postponed interviews might be postponed • There may be a long waiting time so be prepared • The interview may take anywhere from 2-4 hours or the whole day

Introduction to the Interview • Your UNHCR interviewer will make a short introduction • Explaining definition of a refugee • Confidentiality • Your duty to tell the truth • Interviewer should check that you and the interpreter understand each other and are comfortable with one another

Problems with the interviewer or interpreter • If you suspect that either individual has a bias against you, you have the RIGHT to request a different interviewer and/or interpreter • Interview will be postponed • If you feel that your interpreter is not correctly translating, do your best to let the interviewer know

Telling Your Story • Tell your story in the order that it happened • It must be consistent with your written statement

Telling Your Story • Provide dates • If unsure, DON’T MAKE IT UP, provide approximates (at the beginning of May, 2011) • Provide the where • Identify who did something to you • If you don’t know their identities, describe their appearance • Identify how often events occurred

Being questioned • Ask for clarification, if needed • Be ready to face tough questions and a difficult interviewer • Do NOT get defensive or upset • Try to be as precise as possible • If you are unsure about something, let the interviewer know that you are unsure • Ask for a break when you need or want one

At the End of the Interview • If you feel that there were important points that were left out, bring them up at this point • Ask the interviewer to read back important parts of your interview transcript • If you (or the interpreter) have written anything down, have the interviewer retrain a copy in the file

At the End of the Interview (cont.): • You will be given a slip of paper stating when you can expect a decision (within 3 months) • You may be called back from an additional interview

After the Interview: • Write down the names of the interviewer and the interpreter • Record when the interview started and ended • Write down as many of the interviewer’s questions as you can remember (write down answers as well) • Write down any concerns/complaints you had about the interview

Preparing for Your RSD Interview