France: National Court of Asylum finds that situation in Kabul is of indiscriminate violence and justifies the granting of subsidiary protection status
On 9 March 2018, the French National Court of Asylum published its decision in case no. 17045561, which concerned an appeal brought by an Afghan national who had his asylum application rejected by the administrative authorities. The applicant claimed fleeing Kabul after his father and brother were killed by Taliban due to their involvement in selling alcoholic beverages. The applicant was also personally threatened and did not receive any support from the police when filing a complaint. He fled to Turkey on January 2016 and reached France where he lodged his asylum application.
The National Court of Asylum upheld the administrative authorities’ understanding that the applicant’s claims lacked credibility and were imprecise. However, the Court proceeded with the assessment of the situation in the applicant’s country of origin and found that a situation of indiscriminate violence of high intensity prevailed in Kabul. It relied upon the multiple terrorist attacks and suicide bombing in Kabul in 2018, the information available in EASO’s Report on the Security Situation in Afghanistan and in the annual report of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, to conclude that Kabul was the Afghan city with the highest number of deaths of civilians as a result of attacks from different armed groups. Therefore, as there was serious reason to believe that the applicant, if returned to Kabul, would face a serious threat to his life solely on account of his presence there, the Court of Asylum set aside the administrative decision and granted the applicant subsidiary protection status.
Based on an unofficial translation by the ELENA Weekly Legal Update.
