Refugee status granted to Ugandan woman who fled domestic violence

A South Korean court has recently granted refugee status to a Ugandan woman who fled her country to escape severe domestic violence, court officials said Tuesday, showing greater acceptance of gender-based violence as grounds for granting refugee status here.

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of the woman, who had filed a lawsuit against the Seoul Immigration Office to overturn a previous decision denying her refugee status, on Sept. 25. The court determined that she demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution and was not adequately protected by her home country.

Judges at the Seoul Administrative Court stated that the violence experienced by the woman was not merely a case of personal deviance by her husband, but a structural issue of gender-based persecution caused by state neglect in Uganda. It stated, “In Uganda, there is a norm that women pay a price if they do not follow their husband’s will,” and, “There is no real and effective judicial protection for victims of domestic violence (there).”

According to the court, the woman, whose name has not been released, married her husband in 2012 after meeting him while working at a nongovernmental organization in Uganda. After giving birth to her first child in 2014, she faced escalating violence when she tried to resume her career. Her husband brutally assaulted her using canes and electrical cords and attempted to strangle her whenever she attempted to go to work. These relentless attacks left her with severe injuries, sometimes rendering her unable to stand. In July 2018, she secured an opportunity to escape with her children to Korea by being selected as a representative for a Uganda-South Korea cooperation project.

However, when the woman arrived in Korea, her husband escalated his violent behavior by targeting her family back in Uganda, including breaking her brother's leg. He further terrorized her by sending emails in which he declared, "You are my property, and I have the freedom to do anything to you. If you return to Uganda alive, I will kill you."

Presenting threatening emails and other evidence, the woman had petitioned the immigration authorities for refugee status in December 2018. However, nearly two years later, her application was rejected. Officials at the Seoul Immigration Office argued that she did not meet the criteria of having a "well-founded fear of being persecuted," as outlined in the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

Reversing immigration's decision, the court criticized the minimization of domestic violence as a personal issue and recognized it as a structural problem that has persisted under the neglect of the Ugandan state.

Domestic violence constitutes a serious threat that violates the woman's basic rights, such as the rights to pursue happiness and human dignity, the court stated.

Judge Son In-hee cited the UNHCR’s guidelines on gender-related persecution, emphasizing situations like "sexual violence, domestic violence, enforced family planning, female genital mutilation, punishment for transgressions of social mores and persecution of LGBTQ+" as grounds for refugee claims.

This decision aligns with a growing number of legal precedents in Korea recognizing the refugee status of women fleeing gender-based persecution. Earlier in July, the Incheon District Court also granted refugee status to a Tunisian woman fleeing domestic abuse from her ex-husband.

Korea joined the UN Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1992 and became the first country in East Asia to enact its own Refugee Act in 2012. The act lists five grounds for recognizing refugee status: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group and political opinion.

However, there has been continued criticism that gender-based violence -- such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation, sexual violence, domestic violence and human trafficking -- have not been sufficiently taken into account when determining refugee status.

The chief of the Seoul Immigration Office appealed the ruling.

Statistics from the Ministry of Justice in 2023 show that out of 18,837 refugee applications filed last year, 5,232 were by women. Of these, only 76 applicants were granted refugee status, only 47 -- 0.25 percent of the total applicants -- of whom were women.