BRUSSELS: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Friday that gender and nationality alone were sufficient for a country to grant asylum to women from Afghanistan.

Authorities in Austria refused refugee status to two Afghan women after they applied for asylum in 2015 and 2020. They challenged the refusal before Austria’s supreme administrative court, which in turn requested a ruling from the ECJ, the top European Union court.

“It is unnecessary to establish that there is a risk that the applicant will actually and specifically be subject to acts of persecution if she returns to her country of origin,” the ECJ said in its ruling.

“It is sufficient to take into account her nationality and gender alone.”

Since Taliban returned to power in 2021, it has clamped down on women’s rights, including limits to schooling, work and general independence in daily life.

In August, the Taliban codified a long set of rules governing morality in line with Islamic law. The rules are enforced by the morality ministry, which says it has detained thousands of people for violation.

The United Nations human rights chief has called for the Taliban to repeal a set of “egregious” laws that he said were attempting to turn women into shadows.

One woman, called AH in court papers, first fled Afghanistan to Iran with her mother and sisters at around 13-14 years of age after her drug addict father tried to sell her to finance his addiction, according to a court document describing AH’s claims.

The other, identified as FN and born in 2007, has never lived in Afghanis­tan. She and her family had been living in Iran without residence permits, meaning they had no right to work and she could not receive an education. She fled Iran before filing an asylum request in Austria.

“She (FN) said that if she returned to Afghanistan, as a woman, she would be at risk of abduction, would be unable to attend school and might be unable to support herself without her family there,” an ECJ case document said.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2024