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17/06/2010
CJEU held that a person receives protection or assistance from a UN agency other than UNHCR, when that person has actually availed himself/herself of that protection or assistance
17/06/2010
CJEU held that a person receives protection or assistance from a UN agency other than UNHCR, when that person has actually availed himself/herself of that protection or assistance

ECLI
EU:C:2010:105
Input Provided By
EUAA Courts and Tribunals Network
Other Source/Information
Type
Judgment
Original Documents
Relevant Legislative Provisions
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU Charter); Recast Qualification Directive (Directive 2011/95/EU on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as BIP for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection)(recast QD)/or QD 2004/83/EC
Reference
European Union, Court of Justice of the European Union [CJEU], Nawras Bolbol v Bevándorlási és Állampolgársági Hivatal (Hungarian Immigration and Asylum Office), C-31/09, EU:C:2010:105, 17 June 2010. Link redirects to the English summary in the EUAA Case Law Database.
Permanent link to the case
https://caselaw.euaa.europa.eu/pages/viewcaselaw.aspx?CaseLawID=1233
Case history
Other information
Abstract

According to the EASO Courts and Tribunals Compilation of jurisprudence on Exclusion Articles 12 and 17 Qualification Directive, second edition 2020:


"Ms Bolbol, after having left the Gaza Strip in the company of her husband, arrived in Hungary with a visa on 10 January 2007. She subsequently obtained a residence permit from the immigration authority. Her residence permit was not extended and she submitted an application for asylum to the Office for Immigration and Citizenship (BAH), citing the unsafe situation in the Gaza Strip caused by the daily clashes between Fatah and Hamas. Ms Bolbol based her application on the second subparagraph of Article 1D of the Geneva Convention, pointing out that she was a Palestinian residing outside UNRWA's area of operations. Of her family members, only her father remained in the Gaza Strip. Ms Bolbol had not availed herself of the protection or assistance of UNRWA. She claimed, however, to be entitled to such protection and assistance, relying in support of that claim on a UNRWA registration card issued to the family of her father's cousins. In the absence of any documentary evidence, the defendant disputed the family connection on which she relied. In its decision of 14 September 2007, the defendant refused Ms Bolbol's application for asylum based on Article 3(1) of the Law on Asylum, but at the same time found that she could not be expelled. Ms Bolbol requested the referring court to vary BAH's decision and grant her refugee status pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 1D of the Geneva Convention which, in her view, was a separate basis for recognition as a refugee. According to the referring court, Article 1D of the Geneva Convention is open to a number of interpretations and it therefore decided to stay the proceedings and refer for preliminary ruling. The court ruled that, for the purposes of the first sentence of Article 12(1)(a) of Council Directive 2004/83/EC, a person receives protection or assistance from an agency of the United Nations other than UNHCR [the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] when that person has actually availed himself of that protection or assistance. Therefore, as Ms Bolbol had not availed herself of protection or assistance from UNRWA, and in light of the reply to the first question, it was not necessary to reply to the other questions referred."


Country of Decision
European Union
Court Name
EU: Court of Justice of the European Union [CJEU]
Case Number
C-31/09
Date of Decision
17/06/2010
Country of Origin
Keywords
Actors of protection
Article 1D Geneva Convention/UNRWA
Exclusion
Statelessness
Source
CURIA