Title	Submission by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in case numbers 201701423/1/V2, 201704575/1/V2 and 201700575/1/V2 before the Council of State
Publisher	UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Publication Date	28 February 2018
Country	Afghanistan | Netherlands | Somalia
Topics	Gender discrimination | Gender-based persecution | Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) | Social group discrimination | Women's rights | Women-at-risk
Related Document(s)	Decision 201701423/1/V2
Cite as	UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Submission by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in case numbers 201701423/1/V2, 201704575/1/V2 and 201700575/1/V2 before the Council of State , 28 February 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5c001b0a4.html [accessed 24 May 2023]
Comments	I. Whether women who claim refugee status based on the assumption of “a western lifestyle” / who do not adhere to prevailing cultural and religious norms may constitute “a particular social group” as referred to in Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and Article 10 of the Qualification Directive; II. Whether women who claim refugee status based on the assumption of “a western lifestyle” / who do not adhere to prevailing cultural and religious norms may have a well-founded fear of persecution based on the “political opinion” and “religion” grounds as referred to in Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and Article 10 of the Qualification Directive; III. Whether women who have assumed “a western lifestyle” / who do not adhere to prevailing cultural and religious norms, can be expected to exercise restraint in order to avoid persecution (i.e. avoiding persecution through concealment or by exercising discretion); IV. Whether women who have assumed “a western lifestyle” / who do not adhere to prevailing cultural/religious norms may have a well-founded fear of persecution and a real risk of analogous treatment in violation of Article 3 ECHR upon return to Afghanistan or Somalia; and V. Whether an applicant is required to be “convincingly persuasive” for the establishment of a well-founded fear of persecution (in the context of the forward looking nature of the 1951 Convention definition of a refugee).