CEDAW/C/55/D/33/2011 by the Committee. On 20 July 2011, the State party notified the Committee that the author’s time limit for departure had been suspended until further notice. Factual background 2.1 The author is an unmarried woman who is an ethnic Mogadishu and a Christian. She was born in a village near Kampala. According to the author, her mother is an ethnic Muganda and her father an ethnic Mogishu from the eastern part of Uganda bordering Kenya. The author’s father left her mother when the latter was pregnant and the author lived with her mother in Natete until the age of 9 years. On an unspecified date, the author’s father, along with some other men, came to her mother’s house to inquire about the author’s whereabouts in order to compel her to be circumcised, but her mother hid her. After this incident, the author’s mother sent her to an aunt in another part of the country to hide her from her father. 2.2 While the author had no contact with her father, he allegedly visited her mother on numerous occasions to ascertain her whereabouts. The father maintained during those visits that the author should be circumcised. When she turned 16, the author was told that her father knew her whereabouts. Subsequently, she ran away and lived alone in various places. When the author was 18 or 19, she fell pregnant with her first child and, two years later, fell pregnant again, on this occasion by a different man. She had no contact with the children’s fathers and lived with her children before her departure from Uganda in the village of Kosubi, situated in the Kampala area. 2.3 The author entered Denmark on 20 November 2007 with a valid Ugandan passport and a three-month tourist Schengen visa. On 31 March 2008, the Immigration Service decided to expel the author from Denmark on the basis of section 25a (2) of the Aliens Act (illegal residency), with an entry ban for one year. On 2 April 2008, when she was arrested for illegal residency, she applied for asylum. 2.4 On 19 November 2008, the Immigration Service informed the author that she had been refused a residence permit under section 7 of the Aliens Act. On 8 February 2009, an ex officio lawyer submitted written observations on the author’s case. On 19 March 2009, before the oral hearing of the author’s case, the Refugee Appeals Board decided to seek information about female genital mutilation in Uganda through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On 3 September 2009, the Ministry provided the requested information. 1 2.5 According to the author, the Ministry’s information, confirming that female genital mutilation continued to be practised in Uganda but stating that a law had __________________ 1 13-42827 According to the unofficial translation of the letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 3 September 2009 provided by the author, although female genital mutilation is forbidden by law in Uganda, it does occur, but to a lesser extent. Female genital mutilation is mainly practised in Kapchorwa, Bukwo, Bugiri, Nakapiripirit and Moroto areas, which are all situated in eastern Uganda. In the main, young girls reaching puberty (11-15 years) are at risk of being circumcised. Sources could not, however, exclude that a woman in her twenties who had given birth would not be circumcised. It is generally possible to live in Kampala without being at risk of circumcision and circumcisions are not normally performed there. By moving to eastern Uganda, the risk would be increased. Since female genital mutilation is forbidden by law in Uganda, it would in principle be possible for a single woman to seek protection from the authorities if she had a real fear of being a victim of female genital mutilation. One could, however, question the actual extent of protection that a woman would receive in the light of the general lack of capacity and efficiency of the police. 3/19