The European Union Qualification Directive: The Creation of a Subsidiary Protection Regime

The European Union Qualification Directive is the first supranationalinstrument to seek to harmonize complementary protection (termed‘subsidiary protection’ in the EU). Though it hasshifted complementary protection beyond the realm of ad hocdomestic practices to a codified regime, it entrenches a protectionhierarchy that unjustifiably differentiates between the rightsand status accorded to Convention refugees vis-à-visbeneficiaries of subsidiary protection. This article tracesthe development of the Qualification Directive by examiningpreparatory documents and drafting records. It discusses changesto the categories of persons granted subsidiary protection aswell as to the substantive rights attaching to that status.In particular, it criticizes the narrowing-down of originally-proposedcategories of persons eligible for subsidiary protection, arguingthat omitting to provide for known groups of extra-Conventionrefugees does not eliminate them, but simply creates new categoriesof unprotected persons. It also highlights the absence of anyinternational legal basis on which to base distinctions betweenthe rights granted to Convention refugees vis-à-vis beneficiariesof subsidiary protection. It concludes that the QualificationDirective represents a regional, political manifestation ofthe broader legal concept of complementary protection, and assuch does not provide a model for emulation at the internationallevel.     

Idle Rights: Employees' Rights Consciousness and the Construction of Sexual Harassment Policies

This article analyzes women's legal consciousness in responding to unwanted sexual attention in the workplace. By focusing on a particular social problem, this study is situated in the particular legal domain of sexual harassment laws and in a specific organizational context. Taking the perspective of the intended beneficiaries of sexual harassment policies and procedures—women with complaints about sexual conduct in the workplace—I show that the implementation of grievance procedures creates powerful obstacles to women's efforts to assert those rights. Moreover, the practices implementing the policies can alter the very definition of sexual harassment in that setting. Thus, in enacting grievance procedures, women and supervisors construct a legality in particular workplaces that offers only limited protection for women's rights.