Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 30 January 2014 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État (Belgium)) – Aboubacar Diakité v Commissaire général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides

(Case C-285/12) ¹

(Directive 2004/83/EC – Minimum standards for granting refugee status or subsidiary protection status – Person eligible for subsidiary protection – Article 15(c) – Serious and individual threat to a civilian’s life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of armed conflict – ‘Internal armed conflict’ – Interpretation independent of international humanitarian law – Criteria for assessment)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Conseil d’État

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: Aboubacar Diakité

Respondent: Commissaire général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling – Conseil d’État (Belgium) – Interpretation of Article 15(c) of Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted (OJ 2004 L 304, p. 12) – Refusal to grant refugee status or subsidiary protection – Person eligible for subsidiary protection – ‘Internal armed conflict’ – Whether a specific interpretation independent of international humanitarian law is required, or whether an interpretation consistent with that provided under international humanitarian law is permissible – Criteria for assessment.

Operative part of the judgment

On a proper construction of Article 15(c) of Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted, it must be acknowledged that an internal armed conflict exists, for the purposes of applying that provision, if a State’s armed forces confront one or more armed groups or if two or more armed groups confront each other. It is not necessary for that conflict to be categorised as ‘armed conflict not of an international character’ under international humanitarian law; nor is it necessary to carry out, in addition to an appraisal of the level of violence present in the territory concerned, a separate assessment of the intensity of the armed confrontations, the level of organisation of the armed forces involved or the duration of the conflict.

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¹ OJ C 235, 4.8.2012