Court rules in favor of refugee status for gay Pakistani man

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) -- A Pakistani man who fled his country for fear of being
persecuted because of his sexual orientation should be granted refugee status
here, according to a recent court ruling.
A Seoul court said Sunday that it has ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by the
Pakistani man, who is gay, which sought to overturn an earlier government
decision not to recognize his refugee status here.
The individual had petitioned the government for refugee status in February of
last year. The Justice Ministry rejected his application four months later,
however, saying his petition did not meet the criteria of a "well-founded fear of
being persecuted" as stipulated by the U.N. convention on refugees.
The Seoul Administrative Court reversed the ministry's decision, saying that
should he be repatriated "there is a high likelihood that the plaintiff will be
subject to persecution by the Pakistani government and Muslim society simply
because he is gay."
"My life, as a homosexual, was in danger in my country," the plaintiff told
Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity due to sensitivity of the issue. "My
family and relatives were my enemy. They said I was insulting my family, Islam
and my country and threatened that they would report me to police," he said.
South Korea signed onto the U.N. Convention and Protocol relating to the Status
of Refugees in 1992. Since then, 2,413 foreigners have applied for refugee status
and 145 were granted asylum. The first approval was in 2001 for an Ethiopian
male.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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