A Member State may grant subsidiary protection status under European Union law (Directive 2011/95) to a woman who fears for her life, if she is forced to return to her third country of origin, ruled the Court of Justice of the EU in a judgment handed down on Tuesday 16 January (case C-621/21).
In Bulgaria, a Turkish national of Kurdish origin, of Muslim faith and divorced, who alleges that she was married by force by her family, beaten and threatened by her husband, is seeking international protection, fearing for her life if she has to return to Turkey.
When the Bulgarian courts referred a question to the Court for a preliminary ruling, the Court interpreted Directive 2011/95, which provides that a Member State may grant subsidiary protection to any third-country national who does not qualify as a refugee but in respect of whom there are serious and proven grounds for believing that, if returned to his or her country of origin, he or she would run a real risk of suffering serious harm, in particular inhuman or degrading treatment.
In its judgment, the Court rules that the directive must be interpreted in compliance with the Council of Europe’s so-called Istanbul Convention of May 2011, which is now binding on the EU (see EUROPE 13192/29) and recognises gender-based violence against women as a form of persecution (see EUROPE 13262/20).
According to the European Court, women can constitute a social group within the meaning of the Directive. As a result, the Court ruled, they are eligible for refugee status when, in their country of origin, they are exposed, because of their gender, to physical or mental violence, including sexual and domestic violence.
If the conditions for granting refugee status are not met, women may be granted subsidiary protection, even if there is a real threat that they will be killed or suffer violence at the hands of a member of their family or community, due to the alleged transgression of cultural, religious or traditional norms.
See the Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/ael (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)