Denmark - The Refugee Appeals Board’s decision of 10 May 2017
Country of Decision:
Country of Applicant:
Date of Decision:
10-05-2017
Court Name:
The Refugee Appeals Board
Keywords:
National / Other Legislative Provisions:
Denmark - The Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1)
7 (2) and 7 (3)
7 (2) and 7 (3)
Printer-friendly version
PDF version of Summary
Headnote:
The applicant, an ethnic Kurd and a Sunni Muslim from Aleppo, Syria was granted temporary protection under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (3).
A complaint to the Refugee Appeals Board was lodged claiming refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art 7 (1), alternatively subsidiary protection under the Danish Aliens Act Art 7 (2).
The applicants mother was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1) due to her work in a health clinic treating injured insurgents.
The majority of the Board, referring to country of origin information, found that the applicant, as part of the mother’s household, if returned to Syria would be concretely and individually at risk of persecution.
The applicant thus fulfilled the conditions to be and was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1).
Facts:
The applicant, born in September 1994, is an ethnic Kurd and a Sunni Muslim from Aleppo, Syria. She entered Denmark in December 2014 and on 23 September 2015 the applicant was granted subsidiary protection under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (3).
On behalf of the applicant the Danish Refugee Council lodged a complaint to the Refugee Appeals Board on 16 March 2016 claiming refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art 7 (1), alternatively subsidiary protection under the Danish Aliens Act Art 7 (2).
On 13 May 2016, the Danish Immigration Service requested the case remitted in order to include information from the case of the applicant’s mother. The case was remitted by the Refugee Appeals Board and on 1 September 2016 the Danish Immigration Board upheld its decision of 23 September 2015.
The applicant, on 11 November lodged a new complaint claiming refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1).
To support the complaint the applicant informed that she was at risk of persecution by the Syrian Government because her mother as a nurse had treated injured persons from the Free Syrian Army and thereby had endangered herself and her family.
Further, the applicant informed that she was at risk of persecution by the Kurdish YPG militia. Fleeing from Aleppo, she sought refuge in Kobane where the YPG sought to recruit her by force. The applicant fled Kobane to avoid military service.
Decision & Reasoning:
The account of the applicant has been established by the Refugee Appeals Board.
Regarding the attempt to recruit the applicant in Kobane the Board emphasised that according to her account the YPG tried to recruit people in general. Comparing her account with the fact that according to country of origin information women were not or seldom recruited by force the Board found that the applicant was not individually or concretely at risk of being persecuted in Kobane.
The applicants mother was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1) due to her work in a health clinic treating injured insurgents. According to country of origin information family members of persons sought by the authorities are also at risk of being persecuted. Against this background, the majority of the Board found that the applicant as part of the mother’s household if returned to Syria would be concretely and individually at risk of persecution. The applicant thus fulfilled the conditions to be granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1).
Outcome:
The applicant was granted refugee status under the Danish Aliens Act Art. 7 (1).
