Decision of the Court of Appeal of Trieste, I Civil Section, No. 458 of 3 May 2016

The case concerned a Malian national who did not wish to be involved in the fight against rebels in the Northern region and escaped from the country to avoid forced enrolment in national Army. The Court of Appeal of Trieste confirmed that he was not entitled to the status of refugee; however, he was entitled to receive so-called subsidiary protection due to the ‘generalized violence’ existing in Mali. For the Court, this concept not necessarily implies a state of war, and must be interpreted in the light of international humanitarian law, most in particular Protocol II additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The Court further noted that, according to the ECHR jurisprudence, national courts are authorized to have recourse to information and documents from NGOs for deciding on human rights violation.