Paris: For the first time in history, France has awarded refugee status to a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, a first in France's asylum policy concerning Palestinians who have fled the war-torn region. France's National Court of Asylum (CNDA) issued the landmark verdict in favor of the Gazan mother woman who had managed to escape in immediate days following the outbreak of war on October 7, 2023.
Even though the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) had previously rejected her full refugee status in November of 2023 due to lack of personal persecution, CNDA set aside this decision.
OFPRA had only provided the woman with subsidiary protection, a lower rank of asylum with a four-year residence permit. Refugee status encompasses, however, a ten-year permit with additional legal protections in conformity with the 1951 Geneva Convention.
CNDA ruled it was such warring means of Israeli armed forces in Gaza that bordered on persecution, thereby reaching absolute threshold of refugee protection. In related respects, it identified excessive civilian deaths, especially children and women, as well as mass devastation of necessary infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, as well as water as well as electricity installations.
It also added mass displacement, closure of humanitarian assistance, as well as the consequent food insecurity as other indicia of the situation reaching the threshold of persecution.
More importantly, the court used one of the foundations of the Refugee Status Convention: persecution “on the grounds of nationality.” Despite Palestinians being stateless and France not recognizing Palestine as a sovereign state yet —the court drew “nationality” as being composed of groups held together by culture, ethnicity, language, as well as politics. Through such a jurisprudential interpretation, it was thus possible for the court to welcome the applicant as well as her minor son as refugees.
The ruling, nonetheless, caused a political scandal. Éric Zemmour, leader of the extreme right-wing Reconquête party, was severe in his criticism of the ruling. Zemmour criticized CNDA's “judicial activism“ and underlined the irony, according to him that, “even Muslim countries won't take in these populations.“ Zemmour asserted France had no duty in being responsible in middle eastern conflicts and warned of rising asylum demands because of this ruling.
From a legal viewpoint, it is only a proportion of this population of Gaza who would be touched by this verdict. As many as 80% of residents already live under UNRWA refugee status and would be already eligible for international asylum. Despite this, this ruling isa significant breakthrough in extending the scope of the refugee status for other Palestinians fleeing Gaza under conditions of war.
