CCPR/C/117/D/2559/2015
Al-Shabaab has increasingly been targeting civilians and that people who live in areas
under its control face widespread and grave human rights abuses. 3 The author, therefore,
argues that his deportation would violate his rights under article 7 of the Covenant and
article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
3.2
The author submits that he is closely attached to the State party, that he grew up
there, that his mother, father and eight siblings live there and that he fled to Denmark in
order to be reunited with his family. He also submits that his deportation would violate his
family life, protected under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
State party’s observations on admissibility and the merits
4.1
In its observations dated 14 July 2015, the State party submits that the
communication should be considered inadmissible. Should the Committee find the
communication admissible, the Government submits that article 7 of the Convention would
not be violated should the author be returned to Somalia.
4.2
The State party confirmed that the author, a Somali national born on 19 December
1986, entered its territory on 17 December 1992 together with his mother and his siblings.
On 14 May 1993, the author was granted de facto residence under section 7 (2) of the
Aliens Act then in force, as the accompanying child of his mother. On 8 August 2001, the
author repatriated to Somalia together with his mother and six siblings. On 26 July 2003,
the author’s mother re-entered the State party without the author, who remained in Somalia.
On 29 March 2011, the author’s father forwarded a letter to the Embassy of Denmark in
Addis Ababa, in which he wrote that the author was in Ethiopia and wanted to return to
Denmark. On 19 May 2011, the author submitted an application to the Embassy of
Denmark in Addis Ababa requesting that his residence permit be deemed not to have
lapsed. On 28 September 2011, the Danish Immigration Service decided that the applicant’s
residence permit had lapsed. On 12 July 2012, the author submitted a new application to the
Service requesting that his residence permit be deemed not to have lapsed. The Service
considered the application to be an appeal against its decision of 28 September 2011 and
forwarded the appeal to the Refugee Appeals Board.
4.3
On 15 February 2013, the author re-entered Denmark without valid travel
documents. On 3 June 2013, the Refugee Appeals Board decided that the author’s residence
permit was deemed to have lapsed. On 31 July 2013, the author requested that the
application for renewal of his residence permit be reopened. On 26 June 2014, the Board
refused to reopen that application. It added that the author’s fear of Al-Shabaab constituted
a new ground for asylum, one that had not been included in the assessment of whether his
residence permit had lapsed, and forwarded a copy of the author’s request to the Danish
Immigration Service for further action and examination. The Service treated the request as
a new application for asylum and, on 11 November 2014, refused to grant asylum to the
author. On 16 January 2015, the Ministry of Justice refused the author’s application for
residence on humanitarian grounds under section 9 (b) (1) of the Aliens Act. On 19 January
2015, the Board upheld the refusal by the Service to grant the author asylum.
4.4
The author claims in his communication that returning him to Somalia would
constitute a breach of article 7 of the Covenant and a breach of articles 3 and 8 of the
European Convention on Human Rights. The State party notes that, in its decision of
19 January 2015, the Refugee Appeals Board found that the applicant would not be at a
specific and individual risk of persecution, as set out in section 7 (1) of the Aliens Act, or at
a real risk of being subjected to inhuman treatment, as set out in section 7 (2) of the Aliens
3
The author refers to the briefing of 23 October 2014 of Amnesty International entitled Somalia:
Forced returns to south and central Somalia, including to al-Shabaab areas: A blatant violation
of international law. Available from https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr52/005/2014/en.
3