ABSTRACT

The European Court of Justice has recently ruled on third country nationals seeking refugee status in the Netherlands, who claimed to have a well-founded fear of being persecuted by reason of their sexual orientation. Ilaria Ricci emphasises that although the European legislation on this point is open to substantial interpretative variances, the Court’s ruling cleared the way for other gay and lesbian people to seek asylum in nations within the EU. Nevertheless, not all violations of the fundamental rights of a homosexual applicant for asylum can be considered sufficiently serious to meet the conditions for European refugee protection.