Domestic violence victims qualify for refugee status: EU court

SOFIA: Women victims of domestic violence in their country of origin qualify for refugee status or a similar protection, the Court of Justice of the European Union confirmed on Tuesday.

The ruling guarantees international protection for women subjected to “physical or mental violence” in their homeland, as well as those facing “a real risk of being killed”.

The EU court´s ruling came following questions from a Bulgarian court on the case of a Turkish woman of Kurdish origin. The Muslim woman, who applied for international protection in Bulgaria, said she feared for her life if she had to return to Turkiye.

She said she was forced to marry by her family and was beaten and threatened by her husband, whom she later divorced.

Women qualify for refugee status where in their homeland, due to their gender, “they are exposed... to physical or mental violence, including sexual violence and domestic violence,” the court ruling said.

If they do not qualify for refugee status, women can instead benefit from “subsidiary protection”, which allows asylum seekers to remain in the country where they applied but not travel elsewhere in the EU. Women qualify for subsidiary protection “where there is a real risk of being killed or subjected to acts of violence inflicted by a member of their family or community due to the alleged transgression of cultural, religious or traditional norms,” the ruling added.

In recent months, a number of European countries have granted the right of asylum to all women and girls from Afghanistan on the basis of their gender, in line with a decision by the EU Agency for Asylum that they are at risk as a group due to harsh measures and restrictions imposed by the Taliban.