- Introduction
- Guidance note
- Common analysis
- General remarks
- 1. Actors of persecution or serious harm
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2. Refugee status
- Preliminary remarks
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Analysis of particular profiles
- 2.1. Persons perceived to be associated with ISIL
- 2.2. Sunni Arabs
- 2.3. Political opposition activists and protesters
- 2.4. Journalists, media workers and human rights activists
- 2.5. Deserters from armed forces
- 2.6. Individuals approached for recruitment by armed groups
- 2.7. Former Baath party members
- 2.8. Members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), Peshmerga and local police
- 2.9. Individuals perceived to oppose ISIL
- 2.10. (Perceived) collaborators of Western armed forces, organisations, or companies
- 2.11. Humanitarian workers
- 2.12. LGBTIQ persons
- 2.13. Individuals perceived to transgress moral codes
- 2.14. Individuals considered to have committed blasphemy and/or apostasy
- 2.15. Religious and ethnic minorities, and stateless persons
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2.16. Women
- 2.16.1. Violence against women and girls: overview
- 2.16.2. Forced and child marriage
- 2.16.3. Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)
- 2.16.4. Women working in the public sphere
- 2.16.5. Women perceived to have transgressed moral codes
- 2.16.6. Women perceived to be associated with ISIL
- 2.16.7. Single women and female heads of households
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2.17. Children
- 2.17.1. Violence against children: overview
- 2.17.2. Child marriage
- 2.17.3. FGM/C
- 2.17.4. Child labour and child trafficking
- 2.17.5. Child recruitment
- 2.17.6. Education of children and girls in particular
- 2.17.7. Children born under ISIL who lack civil documentation
- 2.17.8. Children without a care-taker
- 2.18. Persons living with disabilities and persons with severe medical issues
- 2.19. Persons involved in and affected by blood feuds in the context of tribal conflict
- 2.20. Individuals accused of ordinary crimes
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3. Subsidiary protection
- 3.1. Article 15(a) QD
- 3.2. Article 15(b) QD
- 3.3. Article 15(c) QD
- 4. Actors of protection
- 5. Internal protection alternative
- 6. Exclusion
- Abbreviations and glossary
- Country of origin information references
- Relevant case law
Subsidiary protection under Article 15(c) QD is granted to any person in respect of whom substantial grounds have been shown for believing that he or she, if returned, would face a real risk of a serious and individual threat to his or her life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence.
The nexus ‘by reason of’ refers to the causal link between the indiscriminate violence and the harm (serious threat to a civilian’s life or person).
The interpretation of the causation ‘by reason of’ may not be limited to harm which is directly caused by the indiscriminate violence or by acts that emanate from the actors in the conflict. To a certain extent, it may also include the indirect effect of indiscriminate violence in situations of armed conflict. As long as there is a demonstrable link to the indiscriminate violence, such elements may be taken into account in the assessments, for example: widespread criminal violence as a result of the collapse of State institutions in the context of the conflict with ISIL, destruction of the necessary means to survive, destruction of infrastructure.