ASYLUM : ECJ ON CONCEPT OF 'INTERNAL ARMED CONFLICT'.

• Position: European Union Court of Justice - Brief article

Asylum policies in EU countries must take the concept of 'internal armed conflict' into account regardless of what international law says, confirms a ruling by the EU Court of Justice (ECJ), on 30 January, in Case C-285/12.

The Belgian-Guinean case was examined in light of the 2004 directive, which forced minimal standards on access conditions to several forms of international protection. This text protects both refugees and those who "have serious and proven motives" by stating that they cannot be sent back to their countries (subsidiary protection scheme) particularly under the framework of internal or international armed conflict.

In 2008 and 2010, Aboubacar Diakite, a Guinean citizen, applied for international protection in Belgium arguing that he had been a victim of acts of violence in Guinea following his participation in protest movements against the ruling regime. His grant for subsidiary protection was refused on the grounds that...