The applicant, M.K., from Sri Lanka, requested international protection in France claiming that if returned to his country of origin he would be exposed to persecution due to his sexual orientation. By decision of 26 April 2024, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons rejected the application. The applicant appealed the decision.

The National Court of Asylum (CNDA) allowed the appeal and provided refugee protection.

The court analysed the situation in the country of origin based on various sources, including reports from Human Rights Watch, the UK Home Office, Freedom House, an article by l’Agence France Press and observations made by the UN Human Rights Committee. These sources reported on the legal provisions criminalising same-sex sexual relations in Sri Lanka, the arbitrary arrests and detentions suffered by members of the LGBTQIA+ community by the authorities and the attacks and hate crimes to which they are subjected within Sri Lankan society, which is particularly hostile to homosexuality. The CNDA highlighted in particular the impunity for perpetrators of homophobic acts, caused also by the fact that LGBTQIA+ persons who suffer acts of violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity cannot report them to the police without fear of being discriminated, marginalised and charged for criminal offences or of suffering other forms of abuse by the police. The court concluded that homosexual persons in Sri Lanka constituted a particular social group within the meaning of the Refugee Convention.

Regarding the individual situation of the applicant, the CNDA noted the credibility of the alleged sexual orientation and the difficulty the applicant had in living within a conservative family and a society that rejected him. The court also found that the domestic violence, combined with periods of confinement to which the applicant was exposed, as well as the sexual abuse and ill-treatment he suffered at the hands of an uncle and a politician, had been established without it being possible for him to obtain protection against these acts.

Thus, the court considered as well-founded and current the applicant's fears of persecution due to his membership in the social group of homosexual persons in Sri Lanka.