Islam v Secretary of State for the Home Department, R v Immigration Appeal Tribunal and Another, ex parte Shah (1999)

Islam v Secretary of State for the Home Department, R v Immigration Appeal Tribunal and Another, ex parte Shah (Conjoined Appeals) (Islam and Shah) concerned two women – Syeda Shah and Shahanna Islam – from Pakistan who were subjected to serious physical abuse by their husbands and were forced to leave their homes. They applied for asylum in the UK claiming that they feared that if returned to Pakistan they would be subjected to domestic violence from which there was no state protection, as well as severe sanctions arising from false allegations of adultery made against them. The House of Lords decision was the first time the highest court in the UK recognised gender as a protected characteristic and women as a particular social group within the meaning of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) (‘the Convention’)