Gender, nationality ‘sufficient’ to grant Afghan women asylum: Top EU court
Al Jazeera
The ruling follows Austria’s refusal to recognise the refugee status of two Afghan women.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that gender and nationality alone are “sufficient” for a country to grant asylum to Afghan women.
The ECJ ruled on Friday that discriminatory measures adopted by the Taliban towards women “constitute acts of persecution” justifying the recognition of refugee status.
“The competent authorities of the member states are entitled to consider that it is unnecessary to establish that there is a risk that the applicant will actually and specifically be subject to acts of persecution if she returns to her country of origin,” the ECJ ruled.
So far, Sweden, Finland and Denmark have already granted refugee status to all Afghan women seeking asylum.
The ruling comes after Austria refused to recognise the refugee status of two Afghan women after they applied for asylum in 2015 and 2020.
