Grounds for Granting Refugee Status
A request for political asylum in Georgia rests on refugee status as defined by the Law of Georgia on Refugees. Refugee status is granted to a foreigner or a stateless person who is outside his or her country of origin, has a well-founded fear that he or she may become a victim of persecution on grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, and is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to the country of origin or to avail himself or herself of its protection. Each element of this definition — presence abroad, well-founded fear, one of the five grounds of persecution, and the impossibility of return — must be separately substantiated in the request.
The law also contemplates group recognition: in the case of mass influx of persons who meet these conditions, the Ministry decides to recognize refugees on a group basis, taking into account the general situation existing in their country of origin. Unlike an individual request, group recognition relies on the general circumstances and provides rapid protection in conditions of political turmoil or mass persecution.
When preparing the request, three directions deserve attention: a detailed description of the personal history with dates and corroboration; documentation of the general situation in the country of origin, which gives context to the personal fear; and the legal qualification of the form of persecution — an account that reads as general discomfort becomes, under correct qualification, one of the statutory forms of persecution. The applicant’s explanations are assessed as a distinct source of evidence, so their completeness and consistency are decisive for the credibility of the whole request as a whole.
Forms of Persecution and Serious Harm
An act is considered persecution if, by its nature or repetitiveness, it is so serious that it constitutes a serious violation of fundamental human rights, or if it is an accumulation of different acts that is equally serious. The law enumerates the forms persecution may take: acts of physical or mental violence, including sexual violence; legal, administrative, or judicial acts and measures that are themselves discriminatory or applied in a discriminatory manner; criminal prosecution or punishment that is disproportionate or discriminatory; refusal of a court to redress an infringed right, resulting in disproportionate or discriminatory punishment; prosecution or punishment for refusal to perform certain acts in time of conflict; and an act related to gender or to minority age.
Serious harm is understood by the law as a death sentence or the threat of execution, torture in the country of origin, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and a serious individual threat to life owing to indiscriminate violence, international or internal armed conflict, or massive violations of human rights. In a political asylum request, it is precisely the factual material built on these categories that determines the outcome. Experience shows that what matters is not only what happened but also how it is perceived in its general context: an episode taken in isolation may appear weak, yet, shown as repetitive and systematic, it becomes evidence of a form of persecution. Demonstrating the links between episodes is therefore as important as describing the episodes themselves.