Advance unedited version CRC/C/77/D/3/2016 11.5 The Committee takes note of the author’s allegations that she would be unable to protect her daughter against female genital mutilation in a country where 98% of women have been subjected to this practice and where she would be afforded no protection by national/local authorities. Although prohibited by law throughout Somalia, the practice of female genital mutilation is still prevalent as the legislation is not enforced. Also, the author herself was subjected to female genital mutilation at age 6, suffered oppression as a result of her secret marriage and was unable to seek protection from national authorities in a maledominated society. The State party notes that, according to several reports, a mother can protect her daughter against female genital mutilation in the Puntland State of Somalia if she resists family or community pressure. It further notes that the author has failed to explain the specific risk that her daughter would run; that the author, by leaving Somalia and travelling to Europe, has shown to be an independent woman with considerable personal strength who must be assumed to be able to resist any social pressure and protect her daughter from female genital mutilation; and that the author’s general credibility was undermined by the fact that she was not deemed credible regarding her own grounds for asylum. Finally, the State party notes that incidents of female genital mutilation have declined in the Somaliland and Puntland,18 and that 75% of girls aged between 10 and 14 have not been subjected to this practice according to 2013 data.19 11.6 The Committee notes that, although the prevalence of female genital mutilation appears to have declined in the Puntland State of Somalia according to reports submitted by the parties,20 as a result inter alia of the 2014 law banning female genital mutilation in the region, the 2013 fatwa against all forms of female genital mutilation, and 2014 Policy against female genital mutilation,21 its practice is still deeply engrained in its society. 11.7 The Committee also notes that, in its decision dated 2 February 2017, the RAB examined the author’s allegations concerning her own grounds for asylum and found them non-credible. In that same decision, the RAB dedicated one paragraph to addressing the author’s allegations regarding the alleged risk that her daughter would be subjected to female genital mutilation if returned to the Puntland State of Somalia and dismissed those allegations stating that the Board “attache[d] decisive importance to the background information available, including in particular the information that, in Puntland, Somalia, it is possible for mothers to prevent their daughters from being subjected to female genital mutilation against the will of the mothers.” The background information relied upon was the DIS Report on female genital mutilation in Central and Southern Somalia (2015), and not the Puntland region. The RAB also ordered the author and her daughter’s return to Somalia, and it was only in its later decision of 14 March 2017 that the RAB corrected that they should be returned to the Puntland region, without any further reasoning. 11.8 The Committee recalls that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration in decisions concerning the return of a child, and that such decisions should ensure–within a procedure with proper safeguards- that the child, upon return, will be safe and provided with proper care and enjoyment of rights.22 In the present case, the Committee 18 19 20 21 22 Swedish Migration Agency report (June 2012). UK Country Information Guidance – Somalia: women fearing gender-based harm/violence (February 2015). In particular, the Report of fact-finding mission to Nairobi, Kenya and Mogadishu, Hargeisa and Boosaaso in Somalia in June 2012, published by the Swedish Migration Agency, and the UK Country Information Guidance – Somalia: women fearing gender-based harm/violence (February 2015), both of which situate the general prevalence rate of female genital mutilation in Puntland at around 70%. Female genital mutilation/cutting policy of the Ministry of Women Development & Family affairs, November 2014 (supported by UNICEF Somalia). Joint General Comment No. 3 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 22 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the general principles regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration, paras. 29 and 33. 11