CEDAW/C/55/D/40/2012 2.4 In March 2008, the author’s mother experienced health problems and in May 2008, the author returned to Pakistan to look after her. There, the author met her future husband. Despite threats from A. G., they got married, in June 2008. For a few months, there were no calls from A. G. However, on one occasion, when the author was alone at night, A. G. came with a few friends and broke into the house. The author and her sister-in-law were verbally abused and spat at in the face. The author was also threatened with imprisonment because of her stay in Denmark. 2.5 In October 2008, without any reason, the police arrested the author’s husband and younger brother on false allegations emanating from A. G. They spent one week in prison, where they were ill-treated. They were released only after their relatives had paid a bribe. 2.6 The author continued to receive phone threats from A. G. during her employment with a foreign company in Pakistan. She was pregnant at the time and, because of the stress, delivered early, on 14 March 2009, two months before her due date. A. G. threatened to kidnap the author’s baby (a girl) from hospital. 2.7 The author and her family were granted tourist visas for Denmark on the basis of an invitation from the author’s sister. They left Pakistan on 5 September 2009. They sought asylum in Denmark, claiming that in Pakistan they feared persecution by A. G. and life-threatening sexual assaults and that the author’s husband would be killed in connection with the false accusations brought against him by the authorities. They claimed that A. G. belonged to a high-ranking family and that his brother was a high-ranking police official who would be able to locate them anywhere in Pakistan, thus leaving them with no protection. 2.8 The Immigration Service rejected the author’s and her family’s application for asylum. Their appeal was further rejected by the Refugee Appeals Board, on 9 March 2012; this decision is final and is not subject to further appeal. The Board found it reasonable for the author and her family to take up residence in a different location in Pakistan. It did not find that the harassment to which the author and her family had been exposed as Christians amounted to persecution or that the situation of Christians in Pakistan was such that it would be unreasonable for them to reside in a different location in Pakistan. Complaint 3. The author claims that she and her family are the victims of a violation of articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 12 and 16 of the Convention and of the Committee’s general recommendation No. 19. She claims that she was subjected to sexual harassment in Pakistan and that three of her brothers and her husband were apprehended and detained by the police and severely beaten and humiliated. She claims that, on 12 January 2010, one of her brothers died as a result of serious injuries sustained in detention. She claims that, by deporting her and her family to Pakistan, Denmark will be in breach of the Convention, because the Pakistani authorities will be unable to protect them in their country of origin. State party’s observations on admissibility 4.1 In its submission of 21 May 2012, the State party challenges the admissibility of the communication. It notes that the author and her family arrived in Denmark on 5 September 2009 and applied for asylum on 8 September 2009. They explained to 4/13 13-42833

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