Particular Social Group Criterion in Refugee Law and the EU Court of Justice’s WS Bulgaria Decision in the Context of Domestic Violence (C-621/21, WS v. Intervyuirasht organ na DAB pri MS)

Development summary

Sibel Safi’s article in Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi addresses how the ‘membership of a particular social group’ criterion is applied in refugee-law claims involving domestic violence and reviews the leading cases in the field. It also discusses the EU Court of Justice’s WS/Bulgaria judgment (C-621/21), including its finding that women who are victims of domestic violence may be regarded as members of a particular social group for refugee-status purposes; the author further states that the piece aims to draw on domestic-violence scholarship and provide a basis for principled adjudication.