A recent report published by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), which analyses case law from 2020-2024, highlights that EU-level and national court decisions are guiding national practices to shift to a more gender-sensitive approach in international protection.

In case C-646/21, the Court of Justice of the European Union clarified that women, including minors, who share as a common characteristic the fact that they genuinely come to identify with the fundamental value of equality between women and men during their stay in a Member State may be regarded as belonging to ‘a particular social group’, constituting a ‘reason for persecution’ capable of leading to the recognition of refugee status.