Appellate Law

CA1: coercive conscription in Columbia not political

By S. COTUS

Tobon-Marin v. Gonzales, No. 07-1113.  This is a denial of an asylum petition for review by Columbia brothers.  They claim they were threaten by the FARC because of their political beliefs.  The First has this gem about to say about forced conscription:

Indeed, coercive conscription efforts might be motivated simply by the recruiters? desire to fill their ranks with any available able-bodied individual, irrespective of their political sympathies, and the target of coerced recruitment might resist conscription for any number of nonpolitical motives, such as a fear of combat, or a reluctance to give up his civilian livelihood.

And, of course, they didn?t demonstrate a nexus between any beliefs and persecution.  Future persecution claims fail, too. 

Full post as published by Appellate Law and Practice on January 08, 2008 (boomark / email).