Aisha - A system deaf to gender violence

Aisha presented the asylum authorities with not one, but two absolute grounds for protection explicitly recognised in international law as conferring the right to refugee status. She suffers from a serious illness that be lethal if left untreated. But there’s no available treatment in her country of origin. This alone should have been enough for her to be granted protection. After an initial rejection, she reapplied and explained that she had also been a victim of genital mutilation. Under the Geneva Convention, survivors of female genital mutilation are considered a particularly vulnerable group, that should be specifically protected. Yet again, Aisha was rejected, as many women victims of excision, when seeking protection in Greece. For more information, read our legal analysis on the systematic failure of the Greek asylum authorities and courts to properly meet the protection needs of survivors of FGM.