Els Leye and Ino Kehrer 115 protection status); to ensure a gender-sensitive interpretation of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees grounds; and to develop gender-sensitive reception conditions (article 60). However, gender-sensitive approaches are very diverse throughout Europe, as EU countries that already dealt with gender-based asylum claims grounded in the fear of prosecution adopted dif­ ferent solutions27,28. These different systems have led to a non-homogenous asylum-seeker system. This is exacerbated by the fact that when national gender guidelines do exist, due to their non-le­ gally binding nature, almost no monitoring systems are put in place regarding their implementa­ tion. One effect of the non-binding nature of such measures is that in some countries international protection is given to women by granting refugee status, while in other countries only subsidiary protection is given in cases of gender-related asylum requests29. The European Commission’s proposals to reform the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) create a number of obligations for EU Member States with regard to gender-specific acts of persecution, including FGM30. Member States should already have transposed these Directives into national law31. With regard to FGM, accepting persecution as grounds for attaining asylum status depends on the gender sensitivity of the interpretation of persecution, which is adopted individually by each EU country. While the UNHCR and the ECtHR recognize that victims or potential victims of FGM could apply for international protection on the prosecution ground "membership of a particular social group", across the European Member States this international standards has been imple­ mented in different ways32, as there is no minimum common standard throughout the EU concern­ ing the criteria that should be used to evaluate the asylum claim of a victim or possible victim of 27 Reikh Ali H, Querton C, Soulad E., Gender related asylum claims in Europe: a comparative analysis of law, policies and practice focusing on women in nine EU Member States. France, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. European Parliament, DG for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizen’s Rights and Constitutional Affairs, 2012 (Gender Equality.). 28 "Malta, Romania, Sweden and the UK have adopted non-legally binding, gender specific guidelines on international protection, while Belgium and Italy do not have such gender specific guidelines but have developed alternative guidance material. France, Hungary and Spain have neither national gender guidelines nor alternative gender-specific guidance. However, in Spain, the national representation of the UNHCR has developed a specific brochure" (Reikh Ali H et al, op cit). 29 Querton C. Gender-related asylum claims in Europe: a comparative analysis of law, policies and practice in nine EU Member States. Asylum Aid, 2012. 30 CEAS includes the following directives: Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted (recast); Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 June 2013 laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast); Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing of international protection (recast). Recognize that acts of persecution can take the form of acts of a gender-specific or child-specific nature (Article 9); The recast Directives created obligations for EU member states to, among others: consider gender-related aspects when determining membership of a particular social group or identifying a characteristic of such a group (Article 10); ensure that authorities and organisations working on “qualification” aspects receive adequate training (Article 37); take into account the specific situation of vulnerable persons such as, inter alia, pregnant women, persons who have been subjected to torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence, such as victims of female genital mutilation (Article 21). 31 End FGM European Network. FGM in the Asylum Directives on Qualification, Procedures and Reception Conditions. END FGM Network Guidelines for Civil Society, March 2016. 32 The approach of the member states toward the future risk of being subjected to FGM vary: not in all asylum claims it was considered as a form of persecution. The national Courts adopted different criteria to evaluate the seriousness of the harm of past FGM and the future risk to be subjected to FGM such as the age of the applicant or if the applicant has been already submitted to the practice. (Rheik Ali et. al., 2016, op cit.).