Court of The Hague, case NL 17.1192, 2018
- Category: Case Law
- Source: National Authorities
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Refugee/Asylum, LGBT+
- Place: Europe
- Year: 2018
- File: Netherlands - Court of The Hague, Case NL 17.11921, 19 March 2018
- URL: http://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/sites/www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/files/aldfiles/Netherlands%20-%20Court%20of%20The%20Hague%2C%20Case%20NL%2017.11921%2C%2019%20March%202018.pdf?utm_source=ECRE+Newsletters&utm_campaign=d0613496bc-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3ec9497afd-d0613496bc-422307941
Court of The Hague, case NL 17.1192, 19 March 2018
Summary (Source: ELENA Weekly Legal Update – 6 April 2018):
Netherlands: Court of The Hague rules that psychological state of an applicant can influence awareness and ability to dwell on his sexual orientation
On 19 March 2018, the Court of The Hague, seated in Zwolle, ruled in case NL 17.11921 concerning an appeal against the refusal by the Dutch national authorities to grant international protection to an Iraqi national who claimed he was persecuted on grounds of his sexual orientation. The national authorities found that his account lacked credibility as the applicant had not convincingly explained the process of his awareness and acceptance of his sexual orientation.
On appeal, the Court recalled the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service’s Guideline 2015/9 on the credibility assessment with regard to LGBT-related asylum applications. According to the guideline, the focus of the credibility assessment should be on the individual experiences (including awareness and self-acceptance) with regard to sexual orientation, also in the light of the general situation in the applicant’s country of origin. Moreover, according to the Council of State decision 201509454/1/V2, an asylum applicant can be expected to explain the moment s/he became aware of his/her sexual orientation, what this meant for him/her and what were the feelings with regard to the expression of his/her sexual orientation.
However, the Court of The Hague ruled that, bearing in mind the applicant’s account that he had suffered years of persecution and psychological abuse from his family due to his sexual orientation, sufficient consideration had to be given to the impact of this abuse on the applicant’s personal development and ability to provide a detailed account of his experience of awareness and acceptance of his sexual orientation. The Court of The Hague ruled that the national authorities had not sufficiently addressed how years of mistreatment and suppression of the applicant’s emotions could have impacted his ability to reflect about his sexual orientation. Therefore, the Court of the Hague quashed the administrative decision and sent the asylum application back to the authorities for a new decision with due observance of the points raised in the Court’s ruling.
Based on an unofficial translation by the ELENA Weekly Legal Update. We would like to thank Isa van Krimpen for forwarding us the decision.