“Persecution, a prerequisite for the recognition of refugee status, occurs when a woman, having refused to comply with the customary rules of her village that require, in the event of her husband’s death, to marry the deceased husband’s brother, is forced to leave her home and is deprived of all her property and parental authority over her children.”
“Regarding the recognition of refugee status, acts of gender-based persecution under Article 7 of Legislative Decree 251/2007, falling within the concept of domestic violence under Article 3 of the Istanbul Convention of 11 May 2011, include limitations on the enjoyment of a woman’s fundamental human rights, a Christian woman, due to her refusal to adhere to local religious customs – according to which, as a widow, she was obliged to marry her husband’s brother – even if the tribal authorities to whom she applied, in the ongoing persecution by her brother-in-law who continued to claim her as a wife, allowed her to avoid the forced marriage, but on the condition that she leave the village, abandoning her children and her property. Such acts, under Article 5(c) of Legislative Decree No. 251/2007, meet the requirements of persecution under Article 7 of the same decree, even if carried out by non-state actors, when, as in this case, the state authorities do not oppose or provide protection, as they stem from local customary rules.”
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