Denmark - The Refugee Appeals Board’s decision of 10 May 2017
Keywords:
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Actor of persecution or serious harm
Description
Per Art. 6 QD actors who subject an individual to acts of serious harm (as defined in Art. 15). Actors of persecution or serious harm include: (a) the State; (b) parties or organisations controlling the State or a substantial part of the territory of the State; (c) non-State actors, if it can be demonstrated that the actors mentioned in (a) and (b), including international organisations, are unable or unwilling to provide protection against persecution or serious harm as defined in Article 7. |
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Country of origin information
Description
"Information used by the Member States authorities to analyse the socio-political situation in countries of origin of applicants for international protection (and, where necessary, in countries through which they have transited) in the assessment, carried out on an individual basis, of an application for international protection.” It includes all relevant facts as they relate to the country of origin at the time of taking a decision on the application, obtained from various sources, including the laws and regulations of the country of origin and the manner in which they are applied, regulations of the country of origin, plus general public sources, such as reports from (inter)national organisations, governmental and non-governmental organisations, media, bi-lateral contacts in countries of origin, embassy reports, etc. This information is also used inter alia for taking decisions on other migration issues, e.g. on return, as well as by researchers. One of the stated aims of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) is to progressively bring all activities related to practical cooperation on asylum under its roof, to include the collection of Country of Origin Information and a common approach to its use. |
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Persecution Grounds/Reasons
Description
Per Article 1A ofthe1951 Refugee Convention, one element of the refugee definition is that the persecution feared is “for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion“. Member States must take a number of elements into account when assessing the reasons for persecution as per Article 10 of the Qualification Directive. |
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Relevant Facts
Description
An assessment of an application for international protection must take into account all relevant facts, including those relating to: the country of origin at the time of taking a decision on the application, including laws and regulations of the country of origin and the manner in which they are applied; relevant statements and documentation presented by the applicant; the individual position and personal circumstances of the applicant; and other matters set out in Article 4 of the Qualification Directive |
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Refugee Status
Description
The recognition by a Member State of a third-country national or stateless person as a refugee. |
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Membership of a particular social group
Description
One of the grounds of persecution specified in the refugee definition per Article 1A ofthe1951 Refugee Convention. According to the Qualification Directive, membership of a particular social group means members who share an innate characteristic, or a common background that cannot be changed, or share a characteristic or belief that is so fundamental to identity or conscience that a person should not be forced to renounce it, and that group has a distinct identity in the relevant country, because it is perceived as being different by the surrounding society. Depending on the circumstances in the country of origin, a particular social group might include a group based on a common characteristic of sexual orientation. Sexual orientation cannot be understood to include acts considered to be criminal in accordance with national law of the Member States: Gender related aspects might be considered, without by themselves alone creating a presumption for the applicability of this concept. |
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Internal armed conflict
Description
“A conflict in which government forces are fighting with armed insurgents, or armed groups are fighting amongst themselves.” |
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Family member
Description
"Generally, persons married to a migrant, or having a relationship legally recognised as equivalent to marriage, as well as their dependent children and other dependants who are recognised as members of the family by applicable legislation. In the context of the Family Reunification Directive 2003/86/EC (and 2003/109/EC, Long-Term Residents), a third-country national, as specified in Article 4 of said Directive and in accordance with the transposition of this Article 4 into national law in the Member State concerned, who has entered the EU for the purpose of Family Reunification… In the context of Asylum, and in particular Council Regulation (EC) 343/2003 (Determining responsible Member State for Asylum claim), this means insofar as the family already existed in the country of origin, the following members of the applicant's family who are present in the territory of the Member States: (i) the spouse of the asylum seeker or his or her unmarried partner in a stable relationship, where the legislation or practice of the Member State concerned treats unmarried couples in a way comparable to married couples under its law relating to aliens; (ii) the minor children of couples referred to in point (i) or of the applicant, on condition that they are unmarried and dependent and regardless of whether they were born in or out of wedlock or adopted as defined under the national law; (iii) the father, mother or guardian when the applicant or refugee is a minor and unmarried." |
Headnote:
The applicant, an ethnic Kurd and a Sunni Muslim from Aleppo, Syria was granted temporary protection under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (3).
A complaint to the Refugee Appeals Board was lodged claiming refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art 7 (1), alternatively subsidiary protection under the Danish Aliens Act Art 7 (2).
The applicants mother was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1) due to her work in a health clinic treating injured insurgents.
The majority of the Board, referring to country of origin information, found that the applicant, as part of the mother’s household, if returned to Syria would be concretely and individually at risk of persecution.
The applicant thus fulfilled the conditions to be and was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1).
Facts:
The applicant, born in September 1994, is an ethnic Kurd and a Sunni Muslim from Aleppo, Syria. She entered Denmark in December 2014 and on 23 September 2015 the applicant was granted subsidiary protection under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (3).
On behalf of the applicant the Danish Refugee Council lodged a complaint to the Refugee Appeals Board on 16 March 2016 claiming refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art 7 (1), alternatively subsidiary protection under the Danish Aliens Act Art 7 (2).
On 13 May 2016, the Danish Immigration Service requested the case remitted in order to include information from the case of the applicant’s mother. The case was remitted by the Refugee Appeals Board and on 1 September 2016 the Danish Immigration Board upheld its decision of 23 September 2015.
The applicant, on 11 November lodged a new complaint claiming refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1).
To support the complaint the applicant informed that she was at risk of persecution by the Syrian Government because her mother as a nurse had treated injured persons from the Free Syrian Army and thereby had endangered herself and her family.
Further, the applicant informed that she was at risk of persecution by the Kurdish YPG militia. Fleeing from Aleppo, she sought refuge in Kobane where the YPG sought to recruit her by force. The applicant fled Kobane to avoid military service.
Decision & reasoning:
The account of the applicant has been established by the Refugee Appeals Board.
Regarding the attempt to recruit the applicant in Kobane the Board emphasised that according to her account the YPG tried to recruit people in general. Comparing her account with the fact that according to country of origin information women were not or seldom recruited by force the Board found that the applicant was not individually or concretely at risk of being persecuted in Kobane.
The applicants mother was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1) due to her work in a health clinic treating injured insurgents. According to country of origin information family members of persons sought by the authorities are also at risk of being persecuted. Against this background, the majority of the Board found that the applicant as part of the mother’s household if returned to Syria would be concretely and individually at risk of persecution. The applicant thus fulfilled the conditions to be granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1).
Outcome:
The applicant was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1).
Cited National Legislation:
| Cited National Legislation |
| Denmark - The Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1) |
| 7 (2) and 7 (3) |