Articles for tag: Asylrecht, EuGH, Flüchtlingsschutz

The Next Episode On Gender-Based Asylum

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One of the CJEU’s most talked-about recent cases asks a simple question: when does someone belong to a “particular social group” under EU refugee law? On 11 June 2024 in K, L v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid (K, L), the CJEU found that, women who genuinely came to identify themselves with the fundamental value of equality between women and men during their stay in the host country can be regarded as belonging to a particular social group. However, the implementation of the K, L judgment has led to a divergence between national policy and national courts over the meaning of “identification with the fundamental value of equality between women and men.”

22. August 2025

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Mehr als grenzwertig

Die „Arbeitsgruppe Migration“ hat sich bei den Koalitionsverhandlungen darauf geeinigt, „in Abstimmung mit unseren europäischen Nachbarn Zurückweisungen an den gemeinsamen Grenzen auch bei Asylgesuchen vor[zu]nehmen“. Während zuletzt Personen zurückgewiesen wurden, die (angeblich) keinen Asylantrag stellten, planen CDU/CSU und SPD nun auch Zurückweisungen bei Asylgesuchen. Grundsätzlich sieht das Unionsrecht dafür ein Asyl- bzw. zumindest Dublin-Verfahren vor, wobei Abweichungen nur bei einer „nationalen Notlage“ erlaubt sind. Welche Folgen hätten Zurückweisungen von Asylsuchenden an den deutschen Grenzen?

1. April 2025

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A Rare Win

In a rare win for the rights of asylum seekers in the first Greek asylum case making its way to Luxembourg, the CJEU has limited abusive uses of the safe third country concept that had condemned applicants to legal limbo. In its ruling on 4 October 2024, the Court left Greece’s designation of Türkiye as a safe third country intact. Nonetheless, the case will still have a significant impact on asylum applicants. This post sets out the practical effects of the judgment on people applying for asylum in Greece and beyond.

19. November 2024

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Rethinking EU Law Beyond the Liberal Feminist Paradigm

In K,L v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid (‘K,L’), the CJEU decided that a belief in the value of gender equality associated with the lifestyle of the westernized woman be regarded as a reason for persecution. While the decision contributes to a gender-sensitive EU asylum law, I argue that the CJEU’s classification of the young women’s belief in the value of gender equality as ‘identificatory’ (as opposed to ‘religious’ or ‘political’) perpetuates a long-standing criticism of the liberal feminist paradigm.

18. September 2024

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Kein Startschuss für Abschiebungen nach Syrien

Laut OVG Nordrhein-Westfalen besteht für Zivilpersonen in Syrien keine ernsthafte, individuelle Lebensgefahr mehr aufgrund des Bürgerkriegs; Rückkehrer:innen hätten außerdem keine zielgerichteten Menschenrechtsverletzungen zu befürchten. Das Politik- und Medienecho war gewaltig. Die Urteilsgründe zeigen allerdings, dass die große politische und mediale Aufmerksamkeit in keinem Verhältnis zum Inhalt der Entscheidung steht.

26. Juli 2024

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Beyond Protection

Whether and how gender-related violence can constitute a ground to claim and receive asylum has long been a subject of debate in refugee law. While feminist legal scholars have long sought to alleviate the gender-blindness of the original text of the Refugee Convention, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) only started taking some steps in this direction earlier this year. The CJEU determined in K, L, that women or specific groups of women who share a belief in an additional common characteristic — such as a belief in gender equality — may be regarded as members of a ‘particular social group’ (PSG), making them eligible for refugee status.

5. Juli 2024

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Two Steps Forward?

On May 25 2024 the Advocate General Nicholas Emiliou delivered his opinion in the Case C-406/22 CV v Ministerstvo vnitra České republiky, Odbor azylové a migrační politiky on several issues regarding the application of the safe country of origin (SCO) concept. The case could have significant impact on SCO policies of several EU Member States and the rights of refugees as it addresses the possibility of designating countries as safe with territorial exceptions as well as a more active approach to judicial review of SCO designations. If adopted by the CJEU, the AG’s suggestions could serve to enhance refugee protection, though the adoption of the Pact on Migration and Asylum might possibly counteract this.

12. Juni 2024

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Hélène Cazes Benatar

Based in Casablanca, Hélène Cazes Benatar not only assisted a great number of refugees fleeing from Europe to North Africa, but also helped with the liberation of internees in Saharan forced labor and internment camps run by the Vichy regime. Her social, political and even clandestine activities were significant and extend far beyond the Jewish community until well after the Second World War.

8. März 2024

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Humanitarian Externalisation

Why are the reasons given in support of the declared aim of the current asylum policies in the UK, EU and USA of breaking the business model of smugglers expressed in humanitarian terms? It is, no doubt, tempting to simply dismiss this humanitarian rhetoric as hypocrisy, as the compliment that vice pays to virtue. Yet however justified that dismissal may be in particular cases, to turn away too quickly from this phenomenon would be to miss something of political significance in its form and to fail to register the historical entanglement of humanitarianism and border externalisation.

29. Februar 2024

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The CJEU’s Feminist Turn?

In Case C-621/21, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that women in general and women facing domestic violence in their country of origin in particular, qualify as a protected ‘social group’ under EU Directive 2011/95 and thus avail themselves for refugee status or subsidiary protection in the Common European Asylum System. This contribution applies the perspective of feminist approaches to international law to critically analyze what this decision means for women and victims of gender-based violence – in- and outside of the European Union.

20. Februar 2024

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