The CJEU’s Feminist Turn? - Gender-based Persecution as a Ground for Protection

Abstract

In Case C-621/21, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that women in general and women facing domestic violence in their country of origin in particular, qualify as a protected ‘social group’ under EU Directive 2011/95 and thus avail themselves for refugee status or subsidiary protection in the Common European Asylum System. This contribution applies the perspective of feminist approaches to international law to critically analyze what this decision means for women and victims of gender-based violence – in- and outside of the European Union.

Keywords

• CJEU
• domestic violence
• ECJ
• gender and sex discrimination
• gender based violence
• persecution