Direct state persecution involves harm by state agents including military, police, intelligence services, and judicial authorities. Claims may involve detention, torture, enforced disappearance, discriminatory prosecution, and systemic targeting of particular groups.
Discrimination becomes persecution when it reaches a threshold of seriousness, sufficiently severe to constitute a serious violation of fundamental human rights. A systematic pattern of discrimination that is cumulative can constitute persecution even where individual acts fall short.
Where a state officially denies targeting particular groups while persecution occurs in practice, persecution experts analyse the gap between official position and documented reality, drawing on human rights reports, tribunal decisions, and field research to establish the true pattern of state conduct.
Related Case Types
Frequently Asked Questions
When does state discrimination constitute persecution?
Discrimination becomes persecution when it reaches a threshold of seriousness, sufficiently severe to constitute a serious violation of fundamental human rights. A systematic pattern of discrimination that is cumulative can constitute persecution even where individual acts fall short. Persecution experts assess the severity and systematicity of state discrimination for the specific appellant profile.
How is state persecution assessed where the government officially denies targeting?
Where a state officially denies targeting particular groups while persecution occurs in practice, the expert analyses the gap between official position and documented reality, drawing on human rights reports, tribunal decisions, and field research to establish the true pattern of state conduct.
