CCPR/C/127/D/2956/2017
1.1
The authors of the communication are B.A., born in 1976, and N.T., born in 1980,
and their five minor children: R.L. and R.L., twins born in 2004, M.L., born in 2010, R.L.,
born in 2014, and D.L., born in 2015. They claim that the State party has violated their
rights under article 7 of the Covenant. The Optional Protocol entered into force for the State
party on 10 March 1988. The authors are represented by counsel.
1.2
On 14 February 2017, pursuant to rule 94 of its rules of procedure, the Committee,
acting through its Special Rapporteur on new communications and interim measures,
requested the State party to refrain from deporting the authors to Bulgaria while their case
was under consideration by the Committee. On 15 March 2017, the Special Rapporteur
reiterated the request. On 14 April 2017, it transpired that the State party had removed the
authors to Bulgaria on 16 March 2017. The authors presently reside in Iraq.
Factual background1
2.1
In their initial communication, the authors claimed that they were Syrians of Kurdish
ethnicity who had never obtained Syrian nationality. They fled to Austria from the Syrian
Arab Republic and claim to have a well-founded fear of persecution. 2 In their additional
submission dated 31 August 2018, the authors note having travelled from Iraq. 3
2.2
In July 2016, the authors arrived in Bulgaria. They were arrested and brought to a
detention centre.4 The authors state that the Bulgarian police threatened them with weapons.
They stayed in the detention centre for 14 days and were released only after they had
applied for asylum.5 The authors claim that they did not receive adequate nutrition or health
care during their detention and that the two youngest children, aged 1 and 2, were fed bread
soaked in water instead of milk. After they had applied for asylum, the authors were
transferred to a camp where they had to sleep on the floor and still did not receive enough
food. The father was forced to clean the floor.
2.3
The authors left Bulgaria on an unspecified date. According to the State party,
Eurodac information indicates that they applied for asylum in Hungary on 7 September
2016. The authors left Hungary on an unspecified date in 2016 for Austria, where they
applied for asylum on 24 September 2016.
2.4
The authors claim that the children were malnourished upon their arrival in Austria.
They submit that the mother was in a bad state of health. She was suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder ever since the authors had left their country of origin. She also
suffered from depression. She was neither diagnosed nor treated in Bulgaria. A clinical
report from Innsbruck University Hospital dated 18 January 2017 indicates that she
urgently required psychotraumatological treatment and that deportation would be
irresponsible from a medical perspective.
2.5
On 13 January 2017, the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum rejected the
authors’ asylum applications, noting that under Regulation No. 604/2013 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for
determining the member State responsible for examining an application for international
protection lodged in one of the member States by a third-country national or a stateless
person (Dublin Regulation) Bulgaria was in charge of examining the merits of the claim. It
also decided to remove the authors to Bulgaria.
1
2
3
4
5
2
Prepared on the basis of the incomplete initial communication submitted by the authors, their further
submission and the submissions of the State party.
The authors do not provide further information in that regard.
According to the State party, the authors have used at least three different identities in Europe. The
State party says it has been unable to ascertain the authors’ identities and nationalities.
The authors apparently interchangeably refer to the place of detention as a “camp” and a “prison”.
According the State party, a Eurodac query shows that the authors applied for asylum in Bulgaria on 7
July 2016.