CEDAW/C/73/D/86/2015
7.3 The Committee notes that the author claims to have exhausted all domestic
remedies and that the State party has not challenged the admissibility of the
communication on that grounds. The Committee observes that, according to the
information available to it, decisions of the Refugee Ap peals Board are not subject to
appeal before the national courts. Accordingly, the Committee considers that the
requirements of article 4 (1) of the Optional Protocol do not preclude it from
examining the communication.
7.4 The Committee notes the author’s claim of violations under articles 3 and 22 of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the absence of any other information of
pertinence on file, the Committee considers that part of the communication to be
inadmissible under article 4 (2) (c) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
7.5 The Committee also notes the author’s claim under article 15 (4) of the
Convention, insofar as, according to Jordanian authorities ’ practice, she was required
to seek her husband’s permission to leave Jordan with their children. The Committee
considers that the author’s claim in that respect does not fall under the responsibility
of the State party, but that of Jordan. Furthermore, the Committee is no t satisfied that
such a practice would amount to a serious form of gender-based violence and
therefore, in the absence of any other information of pertinence on file, the Committee
considers that part of the communication to be inadmissible under article 4 (2) (c) of
the Optional Protocol.
7.6 The Committee notes that, relying on articles 1 and 2 (d), read in conjunction
with article 2 (e) and (f), of the Convention, the author claims that, should the State
party return her and her daughters to Jordan, they would be personally exposed to a
risk of serious forms of gender-based violence. The Committee also notes the State
party’s argument that the communication should be declared inadmissible under
article 4 (2) (c) of the Optional Protocol, owing to a lack o f substantiation.
7.7 The Committee reiterates that, according to its jurisprudence, the Convention
has extraterritorial effect only when the woman to be returned will be exposed to a
real, personal and foreseeable risk of serious forms of gender-based violence. 13
7.8 The Committee recalls that, under article 2 (d) of the Convention, States parties
undertake to refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against
women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformit y with
that obligation. The Committee refers to its general recommendation No. 32, in
paragraph 21 of which it noted that, under international human rights law, the
non-refoulement principle imposed a duty on States to refrain from returning a person
to a jurisdiction in which he or she might face serious violations of human rights,
notably arbitrary deprivation of life or torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment. Furthermore, the Committee notes that State parties must
prevent statelessness through legislative provisions making the loss or renunciation
of nationality contingent upon possession or acquisition of another nationality and
allow the reacquisition of nationality for women left stateless owing to the absence
of such safeguards. 14 The Committee also refers to its general recommendation
No. 19, in paragraph 7 of which it noted that gender-based violence, which impairs
or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms
under general international law or under human rights conventions, was
discrimination within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention, and that such rights
included the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture. The Committee
further developed its interpretation of violence against women as a form of gender__________________
13
14
19-15427
See, for example, M.N.N. v. Denmark, para. 8.10.
General recommendation No. 32, para. 63 (e).
9/13