Denmark - The Refugee Appeals Board’s decision of 27 June 2017
Keywords:
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Best interest of the child
Description
Legal principle required to be applied as a primary consideration when taking measures concerning minors in the asylum process. “Any determination or assessment of best interests must be based on the individual circumstances of each child and must consider the child’s family situation, the situation in their country of origin, their particular vulnerabilities, their safety and the risks they are exposed to and their protection needs, their level of integration in the host country, and their mental and physical health, education and socio-economic conditions. These considerations must be set within the context of the child’s gender, nationality as well as their ethnic, cultural and linguistic background. The determination of a separated child’s best interests must be a multi-disciplinary exercise involving relevant actors and undertaken by specialists and experts who work with children." |
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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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Child Specific Considerations
Description
Application of a child-sensitive process and assessment of protection status, taking into account persecution of a child-specific nature and the specific protection needs of children. “When assessing refugee claims of unaccompanied or separated children, States shall take into account the development of, and formative relationship between, international human rights and refugee law, including positions developed by UNHCR in exercising its supervisory functions under the 1951 Refugee Convention. In particular, the refugee definition in that Convention must be interpreted in an age and gender-sensitive manner, taking into account the particular motives for, and forms and manifestations of, persecution experienced by children. Persecution of kin; under-age recruitment; trafficking of children for prostitution; and sexual exploitation or subjection to female genital mutilation, are some of the child-specific forms and manifestations of persecution which may justify the granting of refugee status if such acts are related to one of the 1951 Refugee Convention grounds. States should, therefore, give utmost attention to such child-specific forms and manifestations of persecution as well as gender-based violence in national refugee status-determination procedures.” See also the best interests principle. |
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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, a Jordanian citizen feared that her eldest daughter who was 17 years old would be forced by the applicant’s in-laws to marry a cousin. The Refugee Appeals Board noted that the daughter had an asylum motive of her own and according to Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child she had a right to be heard. To ensure a two-tier hearing and adjudication the Board remitted the case to the Danish Immigration Service.
Facts:
The applicant, born in January 1976 in Beirut, Lebanon, is an ethnic Arab and a Sunni Muslim and was a Stateless Palestinian until she obtained Jordanian citizenship. The Applicant entered Denmark in July 2016 together with her 4 children and applied for refugee status. She stated that she feared if returned to Jordan she would be persecuted by her former spouse’s business partner and her in-laws. She also feared that her eldest daughter would be forced to drop out of the school and forced to get married. Further, she feared that her former spouse would get custody of their children. In support of her application the applicant stated that her former spouse had stolen money from his business partner and told the partner that the applicant had induced him to steal. The applicant had been threatened by her in-laws to take her eldest daughter out of school so she could marry a cousin.
The Danish Immigration Service rejected the asylum application in October 2016.
Decision & reasoning:
The Board notes that the applicant’s eldest daughter is 17 years old and at risk of forced marriage as the applicant’s in-laws have threatened to force the daughter to marry a cousin. Thus, the eldest daughter has an asylum motive of her own. The Danish Immigration Service has not considered the eldest daughter’s asylum motive and the Board notes that according to Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child she has a right to be heard. The Board has assessed that considering the age of the eldest daughter she should be sufficiently mature to be able to express her views. To ensure a two-tier hearing and adjudication the Board remitted the case to the Danish Immigration Service.
Outcome:
Application was remitted to the Danish Immigration Service.