Navigating “Promising Victimhood:” Discretionary Practices of UNHCR Caseworkers in Rwanda’s Refugee Resettlement Process

Abstract

Executive Summary As the global refugee population continues to expand, resettlement opportunities remain scarce, accessible only to a select few. Scholarly literature has increasingly drawn attention to the opaque bureaucratic processes, often referred to as “black boxes,” that govern resettlement selection, revealing that the decision-making practices determining which refugees are chosen for resettlement are still not well understood. This study addresses a critical gap concerning the implementation of selection criteria within UNHCR’s operations in the Global South, with a specific focus on caseworkers in Rwanda. It examines how these criteria are applied in practice, providing new empirical insights into the concept of “promising victimhood” — the contradictory demands placed on refugees to simultaneously demonstrate both vulnerability and integration potential to qualify for asylum or resettlement. The study explores how caseworkers navigate their roles amidst the complex and often conflicting demands imposed on refugees during the selection process. The analysis is grounded in interviews with sixteen caseworkers involved in resettlement selection, employing street-level bureaucracy theory alongside the concepts of refugee deservingness and promising victimhood. As key actors in the selection process, caseworkers exercise bottom-up power as policy implementers, while simultaneously adhering to the top-down directives established by resettlement states. The findings reveal that caseworkers employ a range of discretionary practices to reconcile the demands of resettlement states’ admission criteria with their advocacy for refugees deemed most vulnerable by the UNHCR. This research enhances our understanding of UNHCR’s operations at the street level, shedding light on how the practices of caseworkers influence perceptions of refugee eligibility and ultimately influence who is granted resettlement.