United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

On those grounds, the Court (Second Chamber) hereby rules: (1) Article 11(1)(e) of Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted, must be interpreted as meaning that the requirements to be met by the ‘protection’ to which that provision refers in respect of the cessation of refugee status must be the same as those which arise, in relation to the granting of that status, from Article 2(c) of that directive, read together with Article 7(1) and (2) thereof. (2) Article 11(1)(e) of Directive 2004/83, read together with Article 7(2) of that directive, must be interpreted as meaning that any social and financial support provided by private actors, such as the family or the clan of a third country national concerned, falls short of what is required under those provisions to constitute protection and is, therefore, of no relevance either to the assessment of the effectiveness or availability of the protection provided by the State within the meaning of Article 7(1)(a) of that directive, or to the determination, under Article 11(1)(e) of that directive, read together with Article 2(c) thereof, of whether there continues to be a well-founded fear of persecution.

20 January 2021 | Judicial Body: European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union | Topic(s): Cessation clauses - State protection | Countries: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The concept of ‘protection’ of the ‘country of nationality’ in Article 2(c) and Article 11(1)(e) of Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted refers primarily to State protection on the part of an applicant’s country of nationality. It is nonetheless necessarily implicit in the provisions of Article 7(1)(b) and (2) Directive 2004/83 that in certain instances actors other than the State, such as parties or organisations can supply protection deemed equivalent to State protection in lieu of the State where those non-State actors control all or a substantial part of a State and have also sought to replicate traditional State functions by providing or supporting a functioning legal and policing system based on the rule of law. Mere financial and/or material support provided by non-State actors falls below the threshold of protection envisaged by Article 7 of Directive 2004/83. In order to ascertain whether a person has a well-founded fear of persecution, in accordance with Article 2(c) of Directive 2004/83, from non-State actors, the availability of ‘protection’ as described by Article 7(2) of that directive by actors of protection must be taken into consideration. The same analysis must be conducted in respect of the cessation of refugee status in accordance with Article 11(1)(e) of Directive 2004/83. The term ‘the protection of country of nationality’ in Article 11(1)(e) of Directive 2004/83 implies that any inquiry as to the nature of the protection available in that country in the context of a cessation decision is the same as envisaged by Article 7 of that directive. In order to arrive at the conclusion that a refugee’s fear of being persecuted is no longer well-founded, the competent authorities, by reference to Article 7(2) of Directive 2004/83, must verify, having regard to the refugee’s individual situation, that the actor or actors of protection of the third country in question have taken reasonable steps to prevent the persecution, that they therefore operate, inter alia, an effective legal system for the detection, prosecution and punishment of acts constituting persecution and that the national concerned will have access to such protection if he or she ceases to have refugee status.

30 April 2020 | Judicial Body: European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union | Legal Instrument: 2004 Qualification Directive (EU) | Topic(s): Cessation clauses - Changes of circumstances in home country - EU Qualification Directive - State protection | Countries: Somalia - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

31 January 2017 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) | Topic(s): Gender-based persecution - Single heads of household - State protection - Women-at-risk | Countries: Sri Lanka - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

3 December 2013 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) | Topic(s): Copts - Emergency legislation - Human rights and fundamental freedoms - Orthodox Christian - Regional instruments - State of emergency - State protection | Countries: Egypt - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

3 December 2013 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) | Topic(s): Copts - Emergency legislation - Human rights and fundamental freedoms - Orthodox Christian - Regional instruments - State of emergency - State protection | Countries: Egypt - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

8 January 2012 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) | Topic(s): Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) - State protection | Countries: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Zimbabwe

Heard at Field House on 29th & 30th September 2010.

11 July 2011 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) | Topic(s): Children's rights - Country of origin information (COI) - Domestic violence - Effective protection - Gender-based persecution - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Right to family life - Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) - Social group discrimination - Social group persecution - State protection - Women-at-risk | Countries: Bangladesh - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

On appeal from the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal: PO (Trafficked Women) Nigeria CG [2009] UKAIT 00046.

22 February 2011 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Court of Appeal (England and Wales) | Topic(s): Country of origin information (COI) - Effective protection - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Non-state agents of persecution - Social group persecution - State protection - Trafficking in persons - Women-at-risk | Countries: Nigeria - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The case summary in English has been prepared in the framework of the Knowledge-Based Harmonisation of European Asylum Practices Project (2010-2012), co-financed by the European Refugee Fund.

24 January 2011 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) | Topic(s): Effective protection - Internal flight alternative (IFA) / Internal relocation alternative (IRA) / Internal protection alternative (IPA) - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - State protection | Countries: Pakistan - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Heard at Field House on 11 November 2010.

24 January 2011 | Judicial Body: United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) | Topic(s): Effective protection - Non-state agents of persecution - Persecution based on political opinion - Persecution of family members - State protection | Countries: Pakistan - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland