PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUP CRITERIA IN REFUGEE LAW AND THE EU COURT OF JUSTICE’S DECISION ON WS BULGARIA IN THE CONTEXT OF ‘DOMESTIC VIOLENCE’ (C-621/21, WS v. Intervyuirasht organ na DAB pri MS)

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 27 Sayı: 1, 51 - 99, 29.05.2025

Sibel Safi

https://doi.org/10.33717/deuhfd.1639959

Öz

1951 UN Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees provides a simple definition of refugee in Article 1A, and there is no single application for the concept of ‘belonging to a particular social group’ listed in the Convention, and different court decisions are encountered. Since the states where the asylum application is made use different methods to determine the criterion of ‘particular group’, this creates significant obstacles for potential victims of domestic violence and murder to benefit from international protection. As a result, there is a lack of jurisprudence that negatively affects the adjudication of asylum applications and leads to unfair differences. These murders have been seen as a private or family situation in many cases, usually including the cultural relativist approach, and within the existing definitions and the interpretation of the 1951 Geneva Convention, international protection requests have been rejected on the grounds that these atrocities are caused by cultural differences in the “Third World” countries where they occur, and that they are a problem of domestic law. The disproportionate focus on the ‘specific’ motives of the perpetrators has also obscured the link between the serious harm caused by domestic violence and the relevant Convention ground(s).
The decision of the Grand Chamber in the WS (C-621/21 Intervyuirasht organ na DAB pri MS) case of the EU Court of Justice has attracted considerable attention due to the Court’s finding that women victims of domestic violence can be considered members of a particular social group for the purposes of granting refugee status. Furthermore, this decision will contribute to the international judicial dialogue on women’s asylum claims and set precedents in relevant jurisdictions.
This article will examine how the criterion of belonging to a particular social group is applied in applications concerning domestic violence in international refugee law and will analyse key cases in this area. The article aims first to make a theoretical contribution to the literature, applying insights from studies on domestic violence to refugee law, and then to examine the WS decision of the EU Court of Justice, which has the potential to be a significant landmark in this field, thus providing a basis for principled adjudication.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Domestic violence , Refugee law , Membership of a particular social group , EU Court of Justice , WS Bulgaria decision

MÜLTECİ HUKUKUNDA BELLİ BİR SOSYAL GRUBA AİDİYET KRİTERİ VE ‘AİLE İÇİ ŞİDDET’ BAĞLAMINDA AB ADALET DİVANININ WS BULGARİSTAN KARARI (C-621/21, WS v. Intervyuirasht organ na DAB pri MS)

Öz

1951 BM Mültecilerin Hukuki Durumuna İlişkin Cenevre Sözleşmesinin 1A maddesinde mülteciye dair basit bir tanım vardır ve Sözleşmede sayılan ‘belli bir sosyal gruba aidiyet’ kavramı için tek bir uygulama bulunmamakta olup farklı mahkeme kararları ile karşılaşılmaktadır. İltica başvurusunun yapıldığı devletler, ‘belirli bir grup’ kavramını belirlemek için farklı metodlar kullandıklarından, bu aile içi şiddet ve cinayeti potansiyel mağdurlarının uluslararası korumadan yararlanmaları noktasında önemli engeller oluşturmaktadır. Sonuç olarak sığınma taleplerinin yargılamasını olumsuz etkileyen ve adil olmayan farklılıklara yol açan bir içtihat birliğinin eksikliği ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu cinayetler bir çok davada genellikle kültürel relativist yaklaşım da dahil olmak üzere özel ya da aile içi bir durum olarak görülmüştür ve mevcut tanımlar ile 1951 Cenevre Sözleşmesi’nin yorumu içerisinde bu zulmün yapıldığı “Üçüncü Dün-ya” ülkelerinin kültürel farklılıkları olduğu görüşü ile açıklanıp iç hukukun sorunu olduğu iddiası ile uluslararası koruma talepleri reddedilmiştir. Faillerin ‘özel’ saiklerine orantısız bir şekilde odaklanmak, aile içi şiddetin beraberinde getirdiği ciddi zarar ile ilgili Sözleşme gerekçesi(leri) arasındaki bağlantıyı da belirsizleştirmiştir.
AB Adalet Divanının WS (C-621/21 Intervyuirasht organ na DAB pri MS) davasında Büyük Daire tarafından verilen karar, mahkemenin aile içi şiddet mağduru kadınların mülteci statüsünün tanınması amacıyla belirli bir sosyal grubun üyeleri olarak kabul edilebileceği bulgusuyla önemli ölçüde dikkat çekmiştir. Ayrıca, bu karar kadınların sığınma talepleri hakkındaki uluslararası yargı diyaloğuna katkıda bulunacak ve ilgili yargı alanlarında emsaller oluşturacaktır.
Bu makale, uluslararası mülteci hukukunda aile içi şiddete ilişkin başvuru-larda belli bir sosyal gruba aidiyet kriterinin ne şekilde uygulandığını inceleyecek ve bu alandaki temel davaları analiz edecektir. Makale, öncelikle literatüre teorik bir katkıda bulunmayı, aile içi şiddete ilişkin çalışmalardan elde edilen içgörüleri mülteci hukukuna uygulamayı, ardından AB Adalet Divanının bu alanda önemli bir dönüm noktası potansiyeline sahip WS kararını da inceleyerek böylece ilkeli yargılama için bir temel sağlamayı amaçlamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Aile içi şiddet , Mülteci hukuku , Belli bir sosyal gruba aidiyet , AB Adalet Divanı , WS Bulgaristan kararı.

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