CRC/C/85/D/56/2018
of articles 2, 3, 6 (2), 12, 22, 24 and 37 of the Convention. The author is represented by
counsel. The Optional Protocol entered into force for the State party on 24 July 2017.
1.2
Pursuant to article 6 of the Optional Protocol, on 2 October 2018, the Working
Group on Communications, acting on behalf of the Committee, requested the State party to
adopt interim measures to suspend the removal of the author, E.A. and U.A. to Italy
pending the consideration of the case by the Committee. On 5 October 2018, the State party
informed the Committee that the removal had been suspended.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author and her husband are journalists and owners of the Ilkxeber Info
newspaper. In March 2017, they fled Azerbaijan with their sons E.A. and U.A., as the
situation facing opposition journalists in Azerbaijan was becoming increasingly critical and
the life of the author’s husband was seriously in danger. The author and her husband were
forced to close down the physical office of their newspaper, which remains accessible only
online.
2.2
On 20 March 2017, the family applied for asylum in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. Due
to the lack of Azeri interpreters, the family was transferred to the canton of Ticino and
accommodated in a room at the Leon d’Oro guesthouse in Bellinzona. In the absence of
interpreters, their communication with officials was almost non-existent. Their requests to
be allowed to cook for themselves, instead of eating in the canteen, to be transferred to an
apartment and to obtain medical treatment for the author’s husband for a shoulder injury
were not taken seriously. However, the family received the support of the APA 13
association, the Baobab centre and the DaRe association. The “precarious and degrading”
accommodation conditions and the linguistic isolation had repercussions on the mental and
physical well-being of the family members. The author’s husband became depressed. There
were episodes of domestic violence. U.A. experienced eating and digestive disorders and
E.A. revealed the family’s state of suffering by injuring himself in a bicycle collision with a
car. On 3 November 2017, following a seven-month wait for the second asylum hearing,
the family reluctantly agreed to withdraw its asylum claim and to be voluntarily repatriated.
Since the author’s father-in-law had bribed the Azerbaijani police to ensure that his son was
not incarcerated, they believed they would be safe. On 13 November 2017, the family left
Switzerland.
2.3
On 26 February 2018, the author’s husband was arrested along with other journalists
and intellectuals in Baku during a commemoration in honour of the Azerbaijanis who had
died in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The author also started having
problems with the police. She was pressured by the Azerbaijani authorities, which
threatened her so that she would stop publishing articles. Having been an observer during
the presidential elections of 11 April 2018, she denounced the irregularities she had
witnessed. On 16 April 2018, she was beaten by two unknown persons. On 20 April 2018,
she was interrogated for four hours in the Baku Prosecutor’s Office. She was threatened
with imprisonment if she did not stop publishing articles, participating in demonstrations
and challenging the Government. Her husband, who was still in prison, advised her to leave
the country.
2.4
The smuggler contacted by the author said that the only way they would be able to
return to Switzerland would be if they obtained an Italian visa. The author, E.A. and U.A.
therefore returned to Switzerland via Italy on an Italian visa obtained on 9 May 2018, valid
from 15 May to 8 June 2018. On 25 May 2018, the author, E.A. and U.A. arrived in Ticino
and filed a new asylum application. The author’s mother informed her that she was now
wanted by the Azerbaijani police. On 4 June 2018, the author was heard by the State
Secretariat for Migration.
2.5
The author’s state of health worsened as a result of the trauma she had experienced.
According to a report drawn up on 31 July 2018 by a psychologist-psychotherapist from the
Baobab centre, the author developed symptoms of anxiety and depression, insomnia and
somatic reactions. According to the report, the social network established by the author and
her children during their first stay in Ticino, which was still “present and active”, allowed
them to maintain a minimum level of mental and physical well-being. The report concluded
2
GE.20-14363