CCPR/C/117/D/2379/2014
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the European Convention and the
Covenant.
4.3
Under section 7 (3) of the Aliens Act, issuance of a residence permit may be refused
if the alien has already obtained protection in another country or if the alien has close ties
with another country where he or she must be deemed able to obtain protection. Section 7
of the Act is structured so that it must first be considered whether an asylum seeker is
deemed to have a need for protection and, if so, a decision will then be made as to whether
another country has a stronger obligation than Denmark to offer him or her protection. The
2013 annual report of the Executive Committee of the Refugee Appeals Board describes the
criteria to be applied in the assessment of whether a country is able to afford protection to
an asylum seeker. The paramount requirement is that the asylum seekers will be readmitted
to the country and that they are able to stay there legally. In that regard, the State party
submits that it cannot be required that they will have completely the same social living
standards as the country’s own nationals, but their personal integrity must be protected. The
core of the concept of protection is that the individuals must enjoy personal safety both
when they enter and stay in the country. The report also mentions a detailed review of the
case law of the Board and the concept of protection. In that regard, the State party notes that
the condition for refusing a residence permit under section 7 (3) of the Act is that there is a
well-founded prospect that the asylum seeker will be able to enter and also in the future to
stay in the country of first asylum without suffering attacks on his or her personal integrity.
In addition, it is a mandatory minimum requirement that the asylum seeker is protected
against being returned to the country of persecution or to a country in which he or she is not
protected against return to the country of persecution. The State party further provides a
detailed description of the proceedings before the Board and its principles related to the
assessment of evidence in the asylum case brought before it.
4.4
As to the admissibility and merits of the communication, the State party argues that
the author has failed to establish a prima facie case for the purpose of admissibility of her
communication under article 7 of the Covenant. In particular, it has not been established
that there are substantial grounds for believing that she would be in danger of being
subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in Italy. The
communication is therefore manifestly unfounded and should be declared inadmissible. In
the alternative, the State party submits that that the author has not sufficiently established
that article 7 would be violated in the event that she and her four children are returned to
Italy. It follows from the Committee’s jurisprudence that States parties are under an
obligation not to extradite, deport, expel or otherwise remove a person from their territory
where the necessary and foreseeable consequence of the deportation would be a real risk of
irreparable harm, such as that contemplated by article 7 of the Covenant, whether in the
country to which removal is to be effected or in any country to which the person may
subsequently be removed. The Committee has also indicated that the risk must be personal,
and that there is a high threshold for providing substantial grounds to establish that a real
risk of irreparable harm exists.7
4.5
The State party observes that, in her communication, the author did not provide any
essential new information regarding her circumstances beyond the information already
relied upon in connection with her asylum proceedings and that the Refugee Appeals Board
has already considered these circumstances in its decision of 11 March 2014. The Board
found that the author fell within section 7 (2) of the Aliens Act (protection status); however,
she had been granted asylum in Italy in 2009 and her residence permit was valid until
29 May 2015. Moreover, the majority of the Board found as a fact that the author was able
7
See communication No. 2007/2010, X v. Denmark, Views adopted on 26 March 2014, para. 9.2.
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