CEDAW/C/69/D/80/2015
Decision on admissibility
1.1 The author of the communication is A.S., a national of Uganda, born in 1974.
She sought asylum in Denmark but her application was rejected. She claims that her
deportation to Uganda would violate her rights under articles 1–3 of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Convention
and the Optional Protocol thereto entered into force for Denmark in 1983 and 2000,
respectively. The author is represented by counsel, Niels-Erik Hansen.
1.2 The author’s application for asylum was rejected by the Danish Immigration
Service on 31 January 2013. The Refugee Appeals Board dismissed appeals against
that decision on 18 April 2013 and 5 December 2014. The author was ordered to leave
Denmark by 20 December 2014. On 30 January 2015, the Committee, acting through
its Working Group on Communications under the Optional Protocol, issued a request
for interim measures of protection, requesting the State party to refrain from expelling
the author pending the consideration of her case, pursuant to article 5 (1) of the
Optional Protocol and rule 63 of the Committee’s rules of procedure.
1.3 On 6 February 2015, the Danish Refugee Appeals Board suspended the time
limit for the author’s departure from Denmark until further notice in accordance with
the Committee’s request.
1.4 On 14 July 2015, the State party requested the Committee to lift the request for
interim measures. On 12 May 2016, the Committee denied that request.
Factual background
2.1 The author is an ethnic Muganda of the Muslim faith, originating from Kayunga.
She is single and has three children. She applied for asylum, on the grounds that she
is a lesbian, which is why she is wanted in Uganda and at risk of being killed there.
2.2 As a child, the author was told not to have sex with a person of her own sex.
She was forced to marry a man and they had three children before he died in 2005.
As a single mother, she had to earn her own living. For the first time, she was able to
have a girlfriend, although only in secret. Between 2007 and 2011, the author worked
in a bar in Katwe that was frequented mostly by lesbians. She had a girlfriend, whom
she had met in the bar. On 6 November 2011, three men made advances to the author
in the bar and offered to have sex with her. She turned down their proposal and the
men concluded that the bar was a place for lesbians. They became aggressive and
started to smash things in the bar. On the same day, the author ’s home was ransacked
and burned, and all her belongings were stolen. The police, looking for the author,
also searched her mother’s house.
2.3 On 8 November 2011, the author left by car for Rwanda. She stayed in Kigali
for eight months, living in hiding with four other women, who were also planning to
travel to Europe. A woman (named by the author) helped her to organize her
departure. The author obtained a visa for Denmark from the Embassy of Norway in
Kampala. On 22 July 2012, she started her journey to Denmark, via Brussels. She was
not in possession of travel documents.
2.4 On 31 January 2013, the Danish Immigration Service rejected the author ’s
asylum application. It noted that the author had entered Denmark in possession of a
visa issued by the Embassy of Norway in Kampala, bearing the name A.N., born on
12 November 1973. On 18 April 2013, the Refugee Appeals Board remitted the case
to the Service for reconsideration and further investigation into the author ’s identity.
On 28 May 2014, the Service again rejected her application. On 5 December 2014,
the Board upheld that decision. In the decision of the Service, the author ’s name
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