The non-discrimination principle prohibits scenarios where persons or groups of people in an identical situation are treated differently, and where persons or groups of people in different situations are treated identically. In this master's thesis, I began by confirming the first part of my statement that discrimination on its own is not automatically sufficient to establish a case for refugee status. A situation where an individual in their country of origin is disadvantaged in some way due to »one or multiple protected grounds« does not necessarily mean that this person is also a victim of persecution within the meaning of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Geneva Convention, GC). A distinction must be drawn between a breach of human rights and persecution, as not every breach of a refugee claimant's rights will amount to persecution. I then substantiated the second part of the statement, namely that under certain circumstances, discriminatory measures can indeed qualify as acts of persecution according to Article 1A(2) of the GC. Since the concept of persecution does not have a specific legal definition, and generally accepted views state that an act must reach a certain level of seriousness to be defined as persecution, an individual discriminated against on the convention grounds in the country of origin may be entitled to protection under the GC when that discrimination reaches a certain level of seriousness ("severe or serious discrimination").
|
