CEDAW/C/76/D/122/2017
3.6 The author maintains that it was not reasonable to expect a woman suffering
from psychological trauma caused by sex slavery to leave her husband while pregnant
in order to resettle in another country, where she would be left alone with the child
she was expecting. 13 In view of these considerations, the State party’s attitude can
only be described as discriminatory towards the author.
3.7 In view of the foregoing, the author considers that the State party has not taken
the necessary measures to prevent her from falling victim once again to trauma and
prostitution. There is a real risk that she would be subjected to acts of discrimination
under the Convention, in particular sexual violence, if she were sent back to Italy. It
follows that her removal would violate articles 2 (d) and 6 of the Convention.
State party’s observations on the admissibility and merits of
the communication
4.1 On 29 May 2018, the State party submitted its observations on the admissibility
and merits of the communication. The State party recalls the facts of the case, in
particular that the author was granted subsidiary protection in Italy in 2013, and was
transferred to a camp in Sicily where most of the occupants were men and where she
was sexually harassed. In June 2015, she married a Somali national who had been
granted subsidiary protection in Switzerland. The author left Italy for Switzerland on
2 November 2015 and applied for asylum on 10 November 2015. On 1 March 2016,
the State Secretariat for Migration decided not to consider the application and ordered
the author’s return to Italy. On 14 July 2016, the author was transferred to Italy.
4.2 The State party stresses that, on 24 November 2015, the State Secretariat for
Migration conducted a screening interview with th e author to ascertain her personal
data. A fingerprint check in the Eurodac system revealed that the author had already
been registered as an asylum seeker in Italy on 8 November 2013. On 15 December
2015, the State Secretariat for Migration sent the Dubli n Unit of the Ministry of the
Interior of Italy a request to take the author back under article 18 of the Dublin III
Regulation. On 28 December 2015, the Dublin Unit informed the State Secretariat for
Migration that the author was a beneficiary of subsidia ry protection in Tuscany. On
6 January 2016, the State Secretariat for Migration completed the Dublin procedure
and granted the author a hearing with regard to its decision not to consider her
application and to send her back to Italy. On 12 January 2016, it requested Italy to
readmit the author. On 16 January 2016, the author claimed that she had stayed in a
camp that had accommodated men almost exclusively and that, while there, she had
been subjected to violence, in particular sexual violence. She had tr ied in vain to be
moved to a different centre and had been forced to live on the streets. On 29 January
2016, the Italian Ministry of the Interior agreed to the request addressed to it by the
State Secretariat for Migration on the grounds that the author h ad been granted
subsidiary protection in Italy until 11 November 2019.
4.3 On 1 March 2016, the State Secretariat issued a decision of non -consideration
in respect of the author’s asylum application on the grounds that she had been granted
subsidiary protection in Italy, a State considered safe by the Federal Council. The
State Secretariat also recalled that Italy was bound by Directive 2011/95/EU of the
European Parliament and of the Council, in which are set out the minimum standards
that applicants from third countries or stateless persons must meet to qualify for
international protection. Under the Directive, persons enjoying subsidiary protection
have the same rights as Italian nationals in respect of access to health care, the labour
market and social insurance. If those requirements had not been fulfilled, the author
would have to assert her rights in Italy. The State Secretariat for Migration also noted
__________________
13
6/16
The author was pregnant at the time of the initial communication and gave bir th to a daughter in
February 2018.
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