Chapter I: REFUGEE STATUS

Refugee status is recognised:1° To any person persecuted because of his or her action in favour of freedom;2° To any person over whom the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees exercises its mandate under the terms of Articles 6 and 7 of its Statute as adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 14 December 1950;3° To any person who meets the definitions of Article…

The acts of persecution and the grounds for persecution, within the meaning of Section A of Article 1 of the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951, shall be assessed under the conditions laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 9 and paragraph 1 of Article 10 of Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification and status…

With regard to the grounds for persecution, aspects relating to sex, gender identity and sexual orientation are taken into consideration for the purposes of recognising membership of a certain social group or identifying a characteristic of such a group.

In order for an applicant to be recognised as a refugee, there must be a link between one of the grounds of persecution alleged by the applicant and acts of persecution or the lack of protection against such acts.

When the competent authority assesses whether an applicant has a well-founded fear of persecution, it is irrelevant whether the applicant actually possesses the characteristics associated with the ground of persecution or whether these characteristics are merely attributed to him or her by the perpetrator of the persecution.

Refugee status shall not be granted to a person who falls within one of the exclusion clauses provided for in sections D, E or F of Article 1 of the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951.The same section F shall also apply to persons who are instigators of, accessories to, or personally involved in the crimes or acts referred to in the said section.

Refugee status is refused or terminated in the following situations: 1° There are serious grounds for considering that the presence in France of the person concerned constitutes a serious threat to State security; > 2° The person concerned has been convicted at last instance in France, in a Member State of the European Union or in a third country on the list, set by decree in the Council of State,…

The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons terminates refugee status, on its own initiative or at the request of the administrative authority, when the person concerned falls under one of the cessation clauses provided for in section C of article 1 of the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951. For the application of sections 5 and 6 of the same section C, the change in circumstances…

In the cases provided for in 1° and 2° of Article L. 511-8, where recognition of refugee status results from a decision of the Cour nationale du droit d’asile or the Conseil d’Etat, the matter may be referred to the court by the Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides or by the Minister responsible for asylum with a view to terminating refugee status. The details of this procedure…