Piraeus Administrative Court of Appeal, 2019 (Greece)
- Category: Case Law
- Source: National Authorities
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Refugee/Asylum, Age, LGBT+
- Place: Europe, Other
- Year: 2019
- File: 0_ΔΕφΠειρ 401-2019,εικαζόμενος σεξουαλικός προσανατολισμός
- URL: https://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/sites/default/files/aldfiles/0_%CE%94%CE%95%CF%86%CE%A0%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%81%20401-2019%2C%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B6%CF%8C%CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82%20%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%BE%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%82%20%CF%80%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%83%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BC%CF%8C%CF%82.pdf
Piraeus Administrative Court of Appeal, 2019
‘Greece: Piraeus Administrative Court of Appeal ruling on imputed sexual orientation’
On 12 June 2019, the Piraeus Administrative Court of Appeal delivered its judgment annulling the decision of the Independent Appeals Authority to refuse international protection status to a Ghanaian applicant on the grounds of sexual orientation.
The applicant entered Greece via Turkey in February 2017 as an unaccompanied minor. In his application for international protection, he submitted that he cannot return to his country of origin because he was accused of promoting homosexuality by members of a local group. According to his account, he had been forced to have relationships with men in order to raise money for the hospital fees of his grandmother. The leader of that group circulated a video with the applicant’s photograph publicly calling for him to be killed.
The Lesvos Regional Asylum Office (RAO) found the asylum application to be unfounded and rejected his application. On appeal, the Committee upheld the RAO’s decision finding that the claim of persecution on sexual orientation grounds had not been substantiated. Subsidiary protection status was also ruled out as the Committee considered that the applicant’s submissions did not establish a real risk of serious harm in Ghana either. The applicant challenged this decision before the Piraeus Administrative Court of Appeal claiming that the Committee had failed to address his danger of persecution on account of sexual orientation imputed on him by the local group.
The Piraeus Court agreed with the applicant and found that the Committee did not examine the possibility that imputed sexual orientation may be sufficient to establish well-founded fear on its own and provide the basis for recognition of refugee status. According to the Court, the Committee should have assessed that claim even if the applicant did not identify as LGBTQ. The contested decision was annulled and the re-assessment of the international protection application was ordered.
The case was supported by HIAS Greece. Many thanks to Vassilis Kerassiotis, lawyer and Country Director for HIAS Greece, for providing us with the text of the decision. Thank you to Stavros Papageorgopoulos, Legal Officer at ECRE, for assisting us with the summary. Based on an unofficial translation by the EWLU team.
[Source: ELENA Weekly Legal Update – 20 September 2019]