Case summaries
The Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic held that only such threats to life or liberty as are tolerated, encouraged or accompanied by official authority can be regarded as persecution within the meaning of Section 8 of the Asylum Act, while problems with private individuals cannot be a ground for granting asylum, as long as the political system in the country of origin affords citizens the possibility of defending their rights before state authorities.
A group can be considered to be a particular social group when the members of the group share innate characteristics or a common background which cannot be changed, or when they share a characteristic or belief that is so fundamental to their identity or conscience that a given individual should not be compelled to renounce it, and the group is seen to be different by the surrounding society. Depending on the circumstances in the country of origin, a particularsocial group may be based on a common characteristic of sexual orientation, but such orientation may not be understood to include acts that are considered punishable under a specific regulation.
In the situation which currently prevails in Algeria, while homosexuality is in some ways tolerated by society, as long as it is not explicitly expressed by the behaviour or the clothes, individuals who openly manifest their homosexuality may nevertheless be subjected to intimidation in their social environment and by the security forces. In addition, legislation punishes homosexuals by a prison sentence and a fine.
Academics are not a particular social group in the context of the refugee definition.
The practices used by the authorities of a given country in order to exclude some citizens, members of a minority, from nationality can be considered as persecution since they are linked to one of the grounds listed in Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
The decision of the asylum authority was annulled on the basis that there was insufficient evidence that an internal protection alternative existed.
Subsidiary protection can be granted if on return to their country of origin an applicant would face a real risk of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The question at issue was whether the reasons for such ill-treatment related to Refugee Convention persecution grounds or not. All international protection statuses require an individual threat, which cannot be indirect as the risk assessment is a future oriented examination of the possibility of a threat, along with the applicant’s individual circumstances and the probabilities of risk.
If a subsequent asylum application is based on circumstances which the applicant has created by his own decision, refugee status shall not be granted if the applicant was able to develop his own political conviction at the time of the (termination of the) preceding asylum procedure. This can be assumed to be the case at the age of 16, or at the age of 18 at the latest.
In countries where there is a high prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM), persons who have demonstrated that they oppose this practice have thus infringed the customary norms of their country of origin and therefore can be considered as having a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of membership of a particular social group in the meaning of Article 1A(2)of 1951 Refugee Convention.
Homosexuals in Tunisia, even those that do not proclaim or overtly demonstrate their sexual orientation, can be considered as constituting a specific and sufficiently identifiable whole so as to form a group whose members would face a risk of persecution for reasons of common characteristics which define them in the eyes of the Tunisian authorities and society.
A woman having undergone female genital mutilation FGM, who benefitted from reconstructive surgery in France, an act considered as an infringement of Guinean customs despite its official ban, must be considered as a member of the social group formed by women who oppose female genital mutilation practiced in Guinea.