Taliban rule|The situation in Afghanistan

The European Court of Justice: Afghan women must be granted asylum

Being a woman from Afghanistan is reason enough to get asylum in the EU. The European Court of Justice ruled that on Friday, according to AFP.

"It does not need to be proven that the specific asylum seeker is at risk of being persecuted if she returns to her home country," writes the court.

Since before, Sweden, Finland and Denmark grant asylum to all women from Afghanistan who apply.

In August 2021, the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, and since then women's rights have been severely curtailed. 

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Two appealed judgments in Austria behind the decision

The European Court of Justice ruled on asylum for Afghan women at the request of Austria's highest administrative court, Reuters reports. This is after two Afghan women who applied for asylum in the country in 2015 and 2020 appealed their rejections.

One first fled to Iran with her mother and sisters at age 13 or 14 after her abusive father tried to sell her to fund his addiction. The other, born in 2007, also lived in Iran as an undocumented immigrant before applying to Austria.

"She said that if she returned to Afghanistan, as a woman, she would risk being kidnapped, denied schooling and unable to support herself without a family," writes the European Court of Justice.