CCPR/C/115/D/2351/2014 Author’s comments on the State party’s observations 5.1 On 13 October 2014, the authors’ counsel submitted his comments on the State party’s observations on the admissibility and merits. As regards the request by the State party to lift interim measures, the authors argue that their need for protection has remained unchanged since their initial submission. They reiterate that, if returned to Pakistan they will be at high risk of losing their lives or being exposed to serious harm, including rape of the minor girls. The authors also claim that the State party does not provide any specific reason to support the contention that the danger to the authors’ life is not real. 5.2 On 13 November 2014, the authors submitted additional comments. They claim that the domestic remedies were exhausted with the Board’s decision, since the Aliens Act does not provide for an appeal to ordinary courts. Counsel raises two fair-hearing issues with regard to the functioning of the Board: the membership of an employee of the Ministry of Justice on the five-member board, which calls into question the neutrality of the Board as the Ministry oversees the functioning of the Danish Immigration Service; and the fact that the Immigration Service and the Board have no educational requirement for interpreters. Moreover, the authors argue that the lack of a written form for them to fill out in the present asylum case meant that no direct statement, in the applicant’s own language, was available; such a form could have eliminated any alleged credibility problems. 5.3 The authors also claim that the reason for R.G.’s dissociation from her son G in Pakistan was concern for her own and her children’s safety after G married a Muslim woman. That was why the mother only knew of the shooting episode in G’s case remotely. In fact, counsels of both families had facilitated the reunification of the family after the Board hearing of 13 June 2013, which led to the authors’ acquiring more detailed knowledge of the attacks against G and his wife. The authors’ counsel also claims that the general level of religious persecution in Pakistan has increased since the authors fled the country and that a great number of Christians have been abducted, raped and killed. 13 The authors also refer to the UNHCR Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Members of Religious Minorities from Pakistan, which state: “The Christian minority in Pakistan is subject to recurrent discrimination and harassment, as well as acts of religiously motivated violence, at the hands of militant groups and fundamentalist elements. Criminal provisions, particularly the blasphemy laws, are reportedly used by militant organizations and members of some Muslim communities to intimidate and harass Christians” (pp. 25-26). The rising level of religious persecution is due not only to the socalled blasphemy laws, but also lately to the fact that the terror group “Islamic State” has spread its influence to Pakistan. 5.4 The authors consider that they have established a prima facie case for the purpose of admissibility of their communication under articles 6, 7 and 18 of the Covenant. They object to the observations of the State party that the Board is better placed to assess the facts of the authors’ cases, referring to the weakness of the Danish asylum system for the reasons stated above and alluding in particular to the way in which these weaknesses may have undermined the assessment of the authors’ credibility. Moreover, concerning credibility, counsel refers to the UNHCR publication Beyond Proof: Credibility Assessment in EU Asylum Systems, which urges the use of caution in credibility assessments because of geographical and cultural differences. With reference to the State party’s arguments concerning the failure of the authors to report the acts of harassment at the school and in the streets to the authorities, the reason why the authors did not go to the police after the incidents was that in their experience, which is supported by the general background 13 10 http://voiceofthepersecuted.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/persecuted-christians-message-to-the-westand-the-unhcr/.