France - Council of State, 7 April 2010, Mr. B., n°319840
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What was at stake
EDAL summary. Before applying the exclusion clause in a case of complicity in an honour killing, the Court should inquire whether, on the one hand family constraint might have lowered the free will of the applicant...
What happened
The applicant, a Kurdish individual from Iraq, sought asylum in France, citing persecution by the PKK after leaving the party and involvement in an honor killing at age 15 under family pressure. His asylum application was initially rejected by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons and the Refugee Appeals Commission, which applied the exclusion clause of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
What the court decided
The court held that before applying the exclusion clause in a case of complicity in an honour killing, it should consider whether family constraint might have lowered the applicant's free will and whether their young age might have made them more vulnerable to this constraint, and that an individual can be considered an accomplice to a serious non-political crime without being fully responsible if they acted under pressure due to their young age.
How the court got there
The Council of State found that the Refugee Appeals Commission made a legal error by not considering whether family pressure and the applicant's young age reduced his free will, thus affecting his responsibility for the crime. The court concluded that these factors meant the applicant could not be excluded from refugee status under Article 1F(b) of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
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Authoritative link
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