CCPR/C/119/D/2681/2015 4.4 The State party further submits that the Refugees Appeals Board found that the authors had previously been granted subsidiary protection in Italy and could return to Italy and stay there lawfully with their children; therefore, Italy is considered the “country of first asylum”, which justifies the refusal by the Danish authorities to grant them asylum, in accordance with section 7 (3) of the Aliens Act. The State party further submits that the Board requires as an absolute minimum that the asylum seeker or refugee is protected against refoulement from the country of first asylum. It also must be possible for him/her to enter lawfully and to take up lawful residence in the country of first asylum, and his/her personal integrity and safety must be protected. This concept of protection also includes a certain social and economic element since asylum seekers must be treated in accordance with basic human standards. However, it cannot be required that the relevant asylum seekers will have completely the same social living standards as the country’s own nationals. The core of the protection concept is that the persons must enjoy personal safety both when they enter and when they stay in the country of first asylum. Moreover, the State party notes that Italy is bound by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Covenant. 4.5 Furthermore, the State party observes that F.H.M.’s alleged lack of access to health care and medical treatment in Italy is based solely on the authors’ unsubstantiated information. The State party indicates that asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection enjoy the same right to medical treatment as Italian nationals; they must enrol in the national health service in Italy and are entitled to benefit from free health-care services on the basis of a self-declaration of destitution to be presented to local health board.14 4.6 The State party notes that the authors’ claims that they risk homelessness and will not receive the necessary assistance for the Italian authorities if deported to Italy appear unsubstantiated, and the information is not consistent with the general background information available on living conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in Italy. The State party observes that, according to their statements, the authors were offered a room in a hall of residence for some months, and Y.A.A. attended free language classes and studied at the University of Turin for six months. 4.7 The State party further refers to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Mohammed Hussein and Others v. the Netherlands and Italy, and states that it is applicable to the present communication. In that ruling, the Court stated that the assessment of a possible violation of article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms must be rigorous and should analyse the conditions in the receiving country against the standards established by that provision of the Convention. In particular, the Court indicated that “in the absence of exceptionally compelling humanitarian grounds against removal, the fact that the applicant’s material and social living conditions would be significantly reduced if he or she were to be removed from the contracting State is not sufficient in itself to give rise to breach of article 3”. Furthermore, the State party considers that it cannot be inferred from the judgment of the Court in Tarakhel v. Switzerland that individual guarantees must be obtained from Italian authorities in the case at hand, as the authors have already been granted subsidiary protection in Italy, while in Tarakhel v. Switzerland the authors’ application for asylum in Italy was still pending when the case was reviewed by the Court. 14 Mr. X and Ms. X v. Denmark, Views adopted on 22 October 2014, para. 7.5; and No. 2329/2014, Z v. Denmark, Views adopted on 15 July 2015, para. 7.4. The State party refers to AIDA, “Country report: Italy” (January 2015), available from www.asylumineurope.org/sites/default/files/report-download/aida_italy_thirdupdate_final_0.pdf. 7