Vreemdelingenrecht.com - het weblog

On March 20, the Judicial Division of the Netherlands Council of State referred three cases concerning asylum seekers who claim to have been persecuted on account of their sexual orientation to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling. Pursuant to Article 10(1)(d) Qualification Directive , groups with a common characteristic of sexual orientation may fall within the ambit of the minimum level of protection afforded by European asylum law. However, during the initial procedure the asylum seekers concerned failed to convince the Dutch immigration service that they were gay and their application was subsequently denied. On appeal, their lawyers argued that the mere statement that one is gay, lesbian or bisexual is sufficient proof of an asylum seeker’s sexual orientation. Moreover, the lawyers submitted, any further verification of their sexuality is contrary to, inter alia, Articles 3 and 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Council of State accepted that so...

Geneva, Switzerland – The International Commission of Jurists today condemned the misrepresentation of international human rights law by some member States of the UN Human Rights Council. At the Panel on discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity , held today at the Human Rights Council, Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Mauritania (on behalf of the Arab Group) and Senegal (on behalf of the African Group) claimed that “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” were new concepts that had no legal foundation in any international human rights instrument. These States further claimed that introducing such concepts undermine the human rights framework. At the beginning of the Panel, the OIC delegations expressed their opposition by walking out of the Human Rights Council. Some of these delegations later returned to the Council. The ICJ says that such statements are a deliberate mischaracterizat...