Salahadin Abdulla v. Bundesrepublik Deutschland

While Saddam Hussein was in power in Iraq, Aydin Salahadin Abdulla and four other Iraqi citizens (plaintiffs) sought and were granted refugee status in Germany. Refugee status was granted because of a fear of persecution by Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party. However, after a few years, when Saddam Hussein’s regime was overthrown, the Federal Office of Migration and Refugees revoked the refugee status of Abdulla and the other four Iraqi nationals. Abdulla and the other plaintiffs disagreed with this decision and argued that Iraq was very unstable, relying on the presence of multinational soldiers. Abdulla argued that despite the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the change in circumstances in Iraq was insufficient to qualify as significant and non-temporary as required by the cessation clause of the European Union’s Qualification Directive (the directive), which was implemented to reflect the protections of the 1951 Convention on the Status Relating to Refugees (the convention). In reflecting the convention, the directive provided that refugee status ceased to exist when the conditions in a refugee’s country of nationality had changed to the extent that the refugee was not justified in refusing to utilize the protection available in that country. If the change in conditions was significant and non-temporary, a refugee would no longer have a well-founded fear of persecution. As a member of the European Union, Germany had amended its refugee law to reflect the qualification directive, which was implemented to guide member states of the European Union. Abdulla argued that in revoking refugee status, the authorities in Germany had transgressed the directive’s cessation clause. A lower court agreed, given the unstable condition of Iraq, and the Federal Republic of Germany, Bundesrepublik Deutschland (defendant), appealed, arguing that revocation was justified because there was no longer a threat of persecution on a protected ground. Abdulla and the other plaintiffs had also filed applications for international protection seeking subsidiary protection status for those who lacked qualification for refugee status. After various appeals, Germany’s Federal Administrative Court stayed proceedings and referred a variety of questions regarding the directive to the European Union Court of Justice.