Denmark - the Refugee Appeals Board’s decision of 16 January 2017
| Country of Decision: | Denmark |
| Country of applicant: | Afghanistan |
| Court name: | The Refugee Appeals Board |
| Date of decision: | 16-01-2017 |
Keywords:
| Keywords |
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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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Internal protection
Description
Where in a part of the country of origin there is no well-founded fear of being persecuted or no real risk of suffering serious harm and the applicant can reasonably be expected to stay in that part of the country. |
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Non-state actors/agents of persecution
Description
People or entities responsible for acts or threats of persecution, which are not under the control of the government, and which may give rise to refugee status if they are facilitated, encouraged, or tolerated by the government, or if the government is unable or unwilling to provide effective protection against them. |
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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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Gender Based Persecution
Description
‘Gender-related persecution’ is used to encompass the range of different claims in which gender is a relevant consideration in the determination of refugee status. Gender refers to the relationship between women and men based on socially or culturally constructed and defined identities, status, roles and responsibilities that are assigned to one sex or another. Gender is not static or innate but acquires socially and culturally constructed meaning over time. Gender-related claims may be brought by either women or men, although due to particular types of persecution, they are more commonly brought by women. Gender-related claims have typically encompassed, although are by no means limited to, acts of sexual violence, family/domestic violence, coerced family planning, female genital mutilation, punishment for transgression of social mores, and discrimination against homosexuals." |
Headnote:
The applicant was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1) because of the threat of forced marriage in Afghanistan. The applicant belonged to the particular social group of “widows in risk of forced marriage”. The Afghan State is neither willing nor able to protect women against persecution in case of forced marriage. Internal protection was not available to the applicant.
Facts:
The applicant, born in 1990, is an Afghan citizen, ethnic Pashtun and Sunni Muslim. She came to Denmark in October 2015 and applied for refugee status. She stated that she feared if returned to Afghanistan her in-laws would kill her because she fled from an attempt of forced marriage with the brother of her deceased husband’s father, who is Chairman of the Council of Elders. In support of her application, she has referred to the killing of her husband six years ago. It is unknown why her husband was killed, but she assumed that the killer was the brother of her husband’s father as he would inherit the husband’s land. After the husband was killed the applicant had a difficult time as she had to work as a servant for the brother of the husband’s father and his family. The brother of the husband’s father was violent towards her, once raped her and on several occasions attempted to rape her. When his wife died, he wanted to marry the applicant. He threatened to spread rumours in the village that she had had adulterous behaviour if she did not marry him. The applicant departed from Afghanistan seven or eight months after the brother of her husband’s father first mentioned marriage.
The Danish Immigration Service rejected the asylum application in October 2016.
Decision & reasoning:
The account of the applicant has been established by the Refugee Appeals Board.
The board accepted that the brother of the late husband’s father and after his wife’s death wanted to marry the applicant, and that he, as Chairman of the Council of Elders, would be granted permission to marry her. The Board further accepted and emphasised that the applicant while living in his house was exposed to abuse including rape. Finally, the Board accepted that the applicant fled from her in-laws, and that neither the Afghan authorities nor her own family in Kabul could provide her with protection.
Based on country of origin information and the fact that the applicant is a widow, the board found that the applicant, to a sufficient degree, had rendered probable that if she was returned to Afghanistan she would be in risk of being handed over to the family she fled from and exposed to abuse. The Board therefore granted the applicant refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1), because she, as a widow, was in risk of forced marriage due to her membership of a particular social group.
Outcome:
The applicant was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1).
Cited National Legislation:
| Cited National Legislation |
| (1) |
| Denmark - The Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 |