Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 17 February 2009 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Raad van State (Netherlands)) - M. Elgafaji, N. Elgafaji v Staatssecretaris van Justitie
(Directive 2004/83/EC - Minimum standards for determining who qualifies for refugee status or for subsidiary protection status - Person eligible for subsidiary protection - Article 2(e) - Real risk of suffering serious harm - Article 15(c) - Serious and individual threat to a civilian's life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of armed conflict - Proof)
Language of the case: Dutch
Referring court
Raad van State
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicants: M. Elgafaji, N. Elgafaji
Defendant: Staatssecretaris van Justitie
Re:
Reference for a preliminary ruling - Nederlandse Raad van State - Interpretation of Articles 2(e) and 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 - Minimum standards in relation to the conditions governing the granting of refugee status - Level of protection equivalent to that of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights or, in the event of non-equivalence, the criteria to be applied for the purpose of determining whether there are serious and individual threats by reason of indiscriminate violence
Operative part of the judgment
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, in conjunction with Article 2(e) thereof, must be interpreted as meaning that:
the existence of a serious and individual threat to the life or person of an applicant for subsidiary protection is not subject to the condition that that applicant adduce evidence that he is specifically targeted by reason of factors particular to his personal circumstances;
the existence of such a threat can exceptionally be considered to be established where the degree of indiscriminate violence characterising the armed conflict taking place - assessed by the competent national authorities before which an application for subsidiary protection is made, or by the courts of a Member State to which a decision refusing such an application is referred - reaches such a high level that substantial grounds are shown for believing that a civilian, returned to the relevant country or, as the case may be, to the relevant region, would, solely on account of his presence on the territory of that country or region, face a real risk of being subject to that threat.
____________1 - OJ C 8, 12. 1 2008.