A ruling request has arisen from asylum applications lodged in the Netherlands by three individuals, who each fear persecution in his country of origin based on his same-sex sexual orientation and because sex between men is criminalised in their home countries. For the reasons given in this document, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists consider that laws that criminalise same-sex sexual activity or conduct and provide the possibility of imprisonment upon conviction meet the threshold of well-founded fear of persecution.