CCPR/C/130/D/2946/2017
United Nations
International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights
Distr.: General
8 June 2021
Original: English
Human Rights Committee
Decision adopted by the Committee under the Optional
Protocol, concerning communication No. 2946/2017*, **
Communication submitted by:
F.M. (represented by counsel, Daniel Nørrung)
Alleged victim:
The author
State party:
Denmark
Date of communication:
1 February 2017 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rule 92 of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted to
the State party on 3 February 2017 (not issued in
document form)
Date of adoption of decision:
6 November 2020
Subject matter:
Deportation to Afghanistan
Procedural issue:
Level of substantiation of claims
Substantive issue:
Non-refoulement
Articles of the Covenant:
6–7
Article of the Optional Protocol:
2
1.1
The author of the communication is F.M., a national of Afghanistan. 1 His asylum
application in Denmark was rejected and he risks being deported to Afghanistan. He claims
that, by deporting him, Denmark would violate his rights under articles 6 and 7 of the
Covenant. The author is represented by counsel.
1.2
On 3 February 2017, the Committee’s Special Rapporteur on new communications
and interim measures, acting on behalf of the Committee, requested the State party not to
remove the author while his case is under examination. On 6 February 2017, the State party’s
Refugee Appeals Board suspended the time limit for the author’s departure from Denmark
until further notice.
* Adopted by the Committee at its 130th session (12 October–6 November 2020).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
1
Tania María Abdo Rocholl, Yadh Ben Achour, Arif Bulkan, Ahmed Amin Fathalla, Furuya Shuichi,
Christoph Heyns, Bamariam Koita, Marcia V.J. Kran, David H. Moore, Duncan Laki Muhumuza,
Photini Pazartzis, Hernán Quezada Cabrera, Vasilka Sancin, José Manuel Santos Pais, Yuval Shany,
Hélène Tigroudja, Andreas Zimmermann and Gentian Zyberi.
The author submits that he was born in 1998. An age determination test by the State party’s
authorities concluded on 26 November 2015 that he was most likely 19 years of age or older, but that
“there is a certain, albeit less likely, that the lesser age can be 17”. On 3 February 2016, the Danish
Immigration Service ascertained that the author was born in 1996; this was later confirmed by the
Ministry of Immigration, Integration and Housing.
GE.21-07467(E)