CEDAW/C/76/D/122/2017
Background
1.1 The author of the communication is Rahma Abdi-Osman, a national of Somalia
born on 1 January 1988. Her application for asylum was rejected and she risks being
sent back to Italy. She claims that, by sending her back, Switzerland would breach
articles 2 (d) and 6 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women. The Optional Protocol to the Convention entered into
force for Switzerland on 29 December 2008. The author is represented by counsel,
Gabriella Tau.
1.2 On 1 December 2017, the Committee, acting under article 5 (1) of the Optional
Protocol to the Convention and rule 63 of its rules of procedure, through its Working
Group on Communications under the Optional Protocol, requested the State party to
refrain from returning the author to Italy pending consideration of her
communication. On 7 December 2017, the State party informed the Committee that
the State Secretariat for Migration had requested the competent authority not to take
any steps to transfer the author to Italy.
Facts as submitted by the author
2.1 The author was born in El Bur, Galguduud Province, in Somalia. In 2008, she
was taken from her family by a member of the Somali group Al-Shabaab, who forced
her to marry him. The author’s father was killed when he tried to intervene. The author
was then held captive and subjected to degrading treatment by her husband. She was
regularly beaten and raped. As a result of the rapes, the author gave birth to a child,
who was taken from her by force and of whom she has had no news. She became
pregnant twice more but was forced to have abortions.
2.2 The author decided to flee through Libya and Italy. She applied for asylum in
Italy on 8 November 2013 and was granted subsidiary protection there. During her
stay in Italy, she entered into a traditional marriage wit h an Italian national of Somali
origin, who had been admitted to Switzerland on a temporary basis and resided in the
canton of Sankt Gallen. On 2 November 2015, the author arrived in Switzerland. On
10 November 2015, she applied for asylum. She immediately contacted her husband,
who was in the canton of Sankt Gallen. At her hearing, the author stated that she had
come to Switzerland to join her husband. She also stated that she suffered from
gynaecological problems as a result of being raped and that she ne eded medical care.
The author was sent to the canton of Fribourg. As the spouses were dependent on
social assistance, they could not afford to see each other regularly.
2.3 The Swiss authorities asked Italy to readmit the author under the Dublin III
Regulation, 1 and Italy agreed to her readmission on 26 January 2016. On 1 March
2016, the State Secretariat for Migration decided not to consider the author’s asylum
application and ordered her return to Italy. On 14 July 2016, the Swiss authorities
took the author to the Italian border by car. The author was not directed to the
competent Italian authorities and her medical file was not transmitted to Italy. The
author was not informed that she had to go to the questura in Florence, the competent
authority for her integration in Italy. With just 30 Swiss francs in her possession, she
wandered the parks of Como with other migrants for 12 days. In August 2016, the
author finally made her way back to Switzerland and settled with her customary
husband in Sankt Gallen with a view to starting a family.
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2/16
Regulation (EU) 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.
20-11108