The European court of justice (ECJ) has ruled that gender and nationality alone are sufficient grounds for a country to grant asylum to women from Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban have sharply curtailed women’s rights.
Authorities in Austria refused refugee status to two Afghan women after they applied for asylum in 2015 and 2020. The women challenged the refusal before the Austrian supreme administrative court, which in turn requested a ruling from the ECJ, the top European Union court.
“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 said in its ruling. “It is sufficient to take into account her nationality and gender alone.”
The Austrian interior ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 they have clamped down on women’s rights, including limits to schooling, work and general independence in daily life.
In August the Taliban codified a long set of rules governing morality in line with sharia law. The rules are enforced by the morality ministry, which says it has detained thousands of people for violations.
The United Nations human rights chief has called for the Taliban to repeal a set of “egregious” laws that he said were attempting to turn women into shadows.
One woman, called AH in court papers, fled Afghanistan for Iran with her mother and sisters when she was about 13-14 after her father, who was a drug addict, tried to sell her to finance his addiction, according to a court document.
The other woman, identified as FN, who was born in 2007, has never lived in Afghanistan. She and her family had been living in neighbouring Iran without residence permits, meaning they had no right to work and she could not receive an education. She fled Iran and filed an asylum request in Austria.
“She (FN) said that if she returned to Afghanistan, as a woman she would be at risk of abduction, would be unable to attend school and might be unable to support herself without her family there,” an ECJ case document said.
