CCPR/C/117/D/2378/2014
forcibly deporting them and their children to Italy, the State party would violate their rights
under articles 7, 17 and 24 of the Covenant. The Optional Protocol entered into force for
Denmark on 23 March 1976. The authors are represented by counsel.
1.2
On 15 April 2014, pursuant to rule 92 of its rules of procedure, the Committee,
acting through its Special Rapporteur on new communications and interim measures,
requested the State party not to deport the authors and their children to Italy while their case
was under consideration by the Committee. On 16 April 2014, the Refugee Appeals Board
suspended their deportation until further notice, in compliance with the Committee’s
request.
Factual background
2.1
The authors were married in 2007 in Somalia. They claim that R.A.H. is an ethnic
Murusade Hawiye and a Muslim. She did not attend school and can neither read nor write.
She has never had a job. A.S.M. is an ethnic Quranyow Garre and a Sunni Muslim. In
Somalia, he worked for the non-governmental organization Primary Alternative Education
and as the headmaster of a school. From June 2007 until the family’s departure from
Somalia, he was mayor of the town of Qoryooley. The authors claim that, on 11 November
2008, Al-Shabaab launched an attack against A.S.M.’s workplace, during which security
guards were killed, and that, subsequently, Al-Shabaab members came to the authors’ home
to look for A.S.M. Given that they feared persecution by Al-Shabaab, which regarded them
as unfaithful for having cooperated with the Government of Somalia, they fled Somalia on
12 November 2008.
2.2
On 11 April 2009, the authors entered Italy and applied for asylum. In October 2009,
they were granted asylum (refugee status under the Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees) and subsidiary protection on humanitarian grounds and were issued residence
permits, A.S.M. for five years and R.A.H. for three years. According to the statement that
the authors provided to the Danish Immigration Service, after their arrival in Italy, A.S.M.
stayed in a refugee camp for seven months, whereas R.A.H. was hospitalized for a long
period during her pregnancy and stayed in a different refugee camp. She gave birth to her
first child in a hospital in Italy. A.S.M. was not present at the delivery. They were not
reunited until they were granted residence permits.
2.3 The authors received financial support and social housing from the Italian authorities.
On 26 October 2009, they signed an agreement for international protection seekers and
refugees with the local government integration and protection service in Palagiano and
were provided with housing in an apartment in Palagiano for six months, as part of project
“Koine”. Prior to living in the apartment, they lived in different asylum centres for three
months. They were provided with health insurance cards and access to medical treatment;
however, they claim that in practice they had limited access to health services, despite the
fact that R.A.H. required treatment for the effects of a car accident that she had suffered in
Somalia when she was a child. In addition, for a skin rash acquired while living in the
apartment in Palagiano, only a cream was prescribed. In June 2010, their housing contract
expired and they were required to leave the apartment. They were given 600 euros and left
on their own.
2.4
In the absence of any assistance from the authorities, on an unspecified date, the
authors decided to move to Bologna. Given that they had already received assistance for six
months, pursuant to the provisions of the Protection System for Asylum Seekers and
Refugees, they could not be granted social housing in Bologna. For a short period, they
lived with another Somali national, then decided to travel to Germany, where they applied
for asylum in July 2010. Their application was refused, because they had already been
granted residence in Italy, and, on 22 February 2011, they were transferred back to Rome,
in accordance with the Dublin Regulation determining the member State responsible for
examining an application for international protection. At the time, R.A.H was pregnant with
her second child.
2.5
The authors claim that, upon their arrival in Rome, they were not provided with
housing or social assistance and that R.A.H. and their daughter stayed in a church on the
first night, while A.S.M. had to sleep on the street. The next day they were referred to
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