CAT/C/66/D/757/2016
circumcised if returned to Côte d’Ivoire. The complainant’s mother had herself been
circumcised when she was 19 years old, after her parents had died. Her parents were against
female genital mutilation but the rest of the family forced her to undergo circumcision. The
complainant’s mother belongs to the Malinke tribe, from the north-west of the country. The
complainant argues that a very high percentage of women and girls in her tribe undergo
female genital mutilation and that her mother cannot protect her from being circumcised.
2.2
The complainant’s mother applied for asylum on behalf of her daughter on 24 April
2015. On 3 June 2015, the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Ministry of
Justice and Security denied the application. According to the Service, even though female
genital mutilation is still practiced in Côte d’Ivoire, it is usually the mother who decides
whether her daughter will undergo the procedure and Ivorian domestic law protects the
rights of women. The fact that the complainant’s mother was circumcised only after the
death of her parents shows that it is the parents who decide on the matter. The Service
stated that the mother of the complainant was a grown woman, that her extended family
would not have much influence on her decision and that she would be able to protect her
minor daughter from female genital mutilation. Furthermore, it stated that the complainant
and her mother could resettle in another area of Côte d’Ivoire, thus avoiding social pressure.
2.3
On 9 June 2015, the complainant appealed to The Hague District Court. The Court
rejected her appeal on 29 June 2015, stating that the complainant’s mother could resettle in
another area of the country of origin as she had no contact with her extended family in her
home town. On 2 July 2015, the complainant appealed to the Council of State, which
rejected her appeal on 21 August 2015.
2.4
The complainant notes that even though female genital mutilation is officially
prohibited in Côte d’Ivoire, it is still deeply rooted in sociocultural norms and very few
perpetrators are brought to justice. She refers to a guidance note in which it is stated that for
various reasons, State authorities may be unwilling or unable to interfere with such
traditional customs and practice that are so deeply entrenched and widely followed. Thus,
while female genital mutilation may have been legally designated as a crime, in practice it
is not treated as such, with the result that there is little or no law enforcement to stop it. 1 In
the same document, it is also stated that female genital mutilation can be considered a
child-specific form of persecution as it disproportionately affects the girl child. In keeping
with the established practice, when assessing a child’s claim for asylum (that is, where the
child is the principal applicant), it is important to bear in mind that actions or threats that
might not qualify as persecution in the case of an adult may do so in the case of a child. In
most cases, however, the potential or actual harm caused by female genital mutilation is so
serious that it must be considered to qualify as persecution, regardless of the age of the
claimant.2
2.5
The complainant submits that her mother suffers from severe psychiatric disorders,
but that the Immigration and Naturalization Service has not taken into account the medical
statements provided by her mother. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder
and hears voices that instruct her to commit suicide. She has already tried to commit suicide
by drinking chlorhexidine and, a day later, Sterillium. When faced with difficulty, she tends
to go numb and just cries and sleeps. She has a lot of trouble coping and raising her three
children3 alone and she gets a lot of help from volunteers from the local non-governmental
organization (NGO) and church.
2.6
The complainant also argues that the Netherlands has not taken into account the
social aspects of the asylum request. The social context plays an important role in the case
because the complainant’s mother is single with three young children, all born in the
Netherlands out of wedlock, and has no social network in Côte d’Ivoire. It would therefore
be impossible for her mother to resettle in another part of her country of origin and start a
new life. Moreover, should she need to stay with members of her extended family, she
1
2
3
2
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Guidance Note on Refugee Claims
Relating to Female Genital Mutilation (Geneva, May 2009), para. 20.
Ibid., para. 9.
The complainant has two older brothers (ages unknown).