Adjudication of asylum claims (refugee status determination / asylum procedures) / Social group persecution

20 April 2023 | Judicial Body: European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union | Document type: Case Law | Legal Instrument: 2011 Recast Qualification Directive (EU) | Topic(s): Domestic violence - Forced marriage - Non-state agents of persecution - Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) - Social group persecution - Women-at-risk | Countries: Bulgaria - Türkiye

In it’s judgement E 2372/2021 issued 7 October 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled that due to “UNHCR International Protection Considerations with Regard to People Fleeing the Republic of Iraq” from May 2019, Sunni Arab men and boys of fighting age, who lived in an area under ISIS control and/or where ISIS maintains a presence and women and children associated with real or perceived ISIS members on account of their family or tribal relations meet a specific risk profile as they are under general suspicion of supporting ISIS. Therefore, people fulfilling these characteristics are likely in need of international refugee protection, depending on the individual circumstances of the case. Referring to the UNHCR International Protection Considerations as well as the “EASO Country Guidance: Iraq” from January 2021 the Constitutional Court ruled that the Federal Administrative Court must duly take into consideration the individual situation of the complainant against the backdrop of the specific risk profile in case the complainant has put forward fear of persecution because of the affiliation to the risk profile in a substantiated way. In the present case the Federal Administrative Court assumed that the alleged threat by Shiite militias was due to the battles between ISIS, militias and Iraqi units at that time and has not been directed against the complainant or his family directly. It denied an individual persecution without considering that the complainant – a Sunni Arab of fighting age, who lived in an area under ISIS control – was meeting a specific risk profile. The Federal Administrative Court’s findings were thus found to be arbitrary by the Constitutional Court.

27 January 2022 | Judicial Body: Austria: Constitutional Court of Austria (Verfassungsgerichtshof) | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Armed forces / Military - Asylum-seekers - International armed conflict - Social group persecution | Countries: Austria - Iraq

March 2021 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Country/Situation Specific Position Papers

11 August 2020 | Judicial Body: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Domestic violence - Non-state agents of persecution - Social group persecution - Women-at-risk | Countries: Mexico - United States of America

7 August 2020 | Judicial Body: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Domestic violence - Non-state agents of persecution - Social group persecution - Women-at-risk | Countries: Guatemala - United States of America

28 February 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Court Interventions / Amicus Curiae

28 February 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Court Interventions / Amicus Curiae

28 February 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Court Interventions / Amicus Curiae

28 February 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Court Interventions / Amicus Curiae