ECJ classifies Taliban’s treatment of women as persecution
Published: Friday, Oct 4th 2024, 12:20
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According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the treatment of women by the radical Islamic Taliban ruling in Afghanistan is to be classified as persecution. This could justify recognition as a refugee.
When examining the individual asylum application of an Afghan woman, it is sufficient for an EU country to only consider her gender and nationality. This was decided by the ECJ on Friday. It thus answered questions from Austria.
In Austria, the Administrative Court has to decide on the complaints of two Afghan women. The women are challenging the Austrian authorities' refusal to recognize them as refugees and claim that the situation of women in Afghanistan alone justifies the granting of refugee status.
The Administrative Court wanted to know the ECJ's view on this. It also asked whether an EU member state could grant asylum to an Afghan woman solely on the basis of her gender.
Withholding basic rights
The ECJ has now replied that forced marriage and the lack of protection against gender-specific and domestic violence are to be classified as persecution in themselves. Forced marriage is to be equated with a form of slavery.
Other measures such as the obligation to cover oneself completely, restrictions on access to education, work and medical care and exclusion from political life also amount to persecution. Afghan women are deprived of the basic rights associated with human dignity.
Change in practice in Switzerland
Women and girls from Afghanistan have generally been granted asylum in Switzerland since summer 2023, but each application is examined individually. The responsible State Secretariat for Migration decided on this practice following a recommendation from the European Asylum Agency (EUAA).
The practice has repeatedly given rise to discussion in the Swiss parliament. Demands from the SVP and the FDP to reverse the change in asylum practice with regard to Afghan women have so far been rejected in both chambers.
©Keystone/SDA
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