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The Luxemburg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that women who suffer or are at risk of "physical or mental violence, including sexual violence and domestic violence" on account of their gender in their country of origin could apply for protection and be granted refugee status, DW reported.

The original case in the ECJ concerned a Turkish Muslim national of Kurdish origin. She claimed that her family had forced her into marriage, and she had been threatened and beaten by her husband, from whom she is now divorced.

She escaped to Bulgaria after leaving him and said that her life would be at risk if she returned to Turkey. That is why she applied for international protection in Bulgaria, which turned to the ECJ for a ruling on what is essentially a case concerning a potential so-called "honor killing."

The ECJ stated on Tuesday that refugee status was "to be granted in cases where a third-country national is persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership a particular social group."

It then ruled that "women, as a whole, may be regarded as belonging to a social group," and that refugee status could be granted if certain conditions applied. "This will be the case where, in their country of origin, they are exposed, on account of their gender, to physical or mental violence, including sexual violence and domestic violence."

The court added that if the conditions for granting refugee status were not satisfied, women "may qualify for subsidiary protection status, in particular where they run a real risk of being killed or subjected to violence," all the more so if there was a risk of this being "inflicted by a member of their family or community due to the alleged transgression of cultural, religious or traditional norms."