Case summaries
Where the situation described in Art 15(c) of the Qualification Directive does not occur in all parts of the country of origin, it must be assessed in respect of the distinct area of the country from which the applicant originates.
Although gender based persecution is not expressly mentioned among the reasons for recognising refugee status, the UNHCR Guidelines on claims to refugee status in cases involving gender based persecution, as cited by the Applicant, indicate that gender based persecution falls within the broader category of persecution for reasons of membership of a particular social group.
Although physical persons acting on their own behalf do not constitute typical perpetrators of persecution, they may be regarded as actors of persecution within the meaning of the Convention in cases where public authorities are unable or unwilling to protect an individual against their activities.
The facilitated standard of proof under Art. 4.4 of the Qualification Directive may be applied to the examination of subsidiary protection. Under German law, subsidiary protection is not excluded on the ground that the applicant is a “danger to the community”.
The conditions for applying an exclusion clause can be fulfilled without considering if there are grounds for granting protection.
The right to family life can outweigh the ‘state responsibility’ criteria in the Dublin II Regulation. The Court held that the application for asylum should be processed in Sweden, in order to secure the right to family and private life (Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights), despite the fact that another State was responsible under the Dublin II Regulation.
The applicant lodged an appeal before the High National Court against the decision issued by the Ministry of Interior to refuse granting stateless status. At issue in the case was whether the reasons given by the Ministry were lawful: if the applicant had already received protection from Algeria and if he fell within the scope of the exclusion clause because of the protection already granted by organs of the UN other than UNHCR.
Expulsion by France of two nationals of Belarus whose asylum claims had been rejected would amount to a violation of Article 3.
A well-founded fear of persecution may also be based on events that took place after the Applicant left his country of origin (refugee sur place). Sur place evidence refers to circumstances which arose after the Applicant left his country of origin and which are as a rule connected with a change in the situation in the country of origin, but one cannot exclude other events which are closely linked with the person applying for refugee status and which occurred after he left his country of origin.
The applicant was granted refugee status because of political activities in exile. In the case of applicants from Ethiopia, a risk of persecution is not restricted to leading personalities of the opposition in exile as the Ethiopian government has shown an interest in recording the names and functions of all political opponents.
- An individual is not excluded from refugee status where they have been convicted and sentenced as a juvenile, this only applies in cases of convictions and sentences according to the criminal law applicable to adults.
- The applicant is not excluded from refugee status because of publicly distributing portraits of Öcalan (founder of the PKK) as a youth. This cannot be considered as an act of supporting terrorism within the meaning of the exclusion ground of Art 12.2 of the Qualification Directive.