CCPR/C/118/D/2569/2015
care and schooling if they return. Nonetheless, the Committee also notes the State party’s
submission that, when they were in Bulgaria, the authors managed to obtain medical care
for their eldest daughter and the female author, although by alternative means; that no new
information has been provided in the present communication on the health of N.A.K., and
that she will be entitled, as a refugee, to receive the necessary medical treatment if she
returns to Bulgaria. The Committee further notes that according to the Board, the authors
were able to rent a flat in Sofia and that the general assumption is that persons granted
refugee and protection status in Bulgaria have the same rights as Bulgarian nationals. The
Committee further notes that the Board considered that the authors had sufficient resources
to meet their needs in Bulgaria, thanks to the financial resources they had brought from the
Syrian Arab Republic.
8.5
The Committee notes the consultation held by the State party with the Bulgarian
authorities in 2014, which confirmed that the authors were granted refugee status and had
valid residence permits in Bulgaria, and therefore did not risk refoulement to the Syrian
Arab Republic.
8.6
The Committee observes that the material before it, as well as general information in
the public domain on the situation of refugees and asylum seekers in Bulgaria, indicates
that there may be a lack of available places in the reception facilities for asylum seekers and
returnees and that they are often in poor sanitary conditions. It also notes that according to
the information before it, returnees like the authors who have already been granted a form
of protection and benefited from the reception facilities when they were in Bulgaria, are not
entitled to accommodation in the camps for asylum seekers beyond a six-month period
from protection status being granted. It further notes that although beneficiaries of
protection are entitled to work and enjoy social rights in Bulgaria, its social system is in
general insufficient to attend to all persons in need. The Committee, however, notes that the
authors were not homeless before their departure from Bulgaria and did not live in
destitution. The Committee further observes that, according to their statements made to the
Refugee Appeals Board, the authors had access to medical treatment during their stay in
Bulgaria. Likewise, the authors have not provided any information that would explain why
they would not be able to find a job in Bulgaria or to seek the protection of the Bulgarian
authorities in case of unemployment. In that context, the Committee notes that the authors
have not substantiated their claim that they would face a real and personal risk of inhuman
or degrading treatment if they returned to Bulgaria. Accordingly, the Committee considers
that the mere fact that the authors may be possibly confronted with difficulties upon their
return to Bulgaria does not in itself mean that they would be in a special situation of
vulnerability and in a situation significantly different to many other families.
8.7
The Committee further considers that although the authors disagree with the
decision of the State party’s authorities to return them to Bulgaria as their country of first
asylum, they have failed to explain why that decision is manifestly unreasonable or
arbitrary. Nor have they pointed out any procedural irregularities in the procedures before
the Danish Immigration Service or the Refugee Appeals Board. Accordingly, the
Committee cannot conclude that the removal of the authors to Bulgaria by the State party
would constitute a violation of article 7 of the Covenant.
9.
The Committee, acting under article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol to the Covenant,
is of the view that the authors’ removal to Bulgaria would not violate their rights under
article 7 of the Covenant. The Committee, however, is confident that the State party will
duly inform the Bulgarian authorities of the authors’ removal, in order for the authors and
their children to be kept together and to be taken charge of in a manner adapted to their
needs, especially taking into account the age of the children.
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