CCPR/C/127/D/2956/2017 observation of April 2014 on improvements in Bulgarian asylum procedures had been followed by a deterioration of accommodation conditions in 2015. 6.2 The authors argue that, in their case, the Federal Administrative Court had come to essentially identical findings. They maintain that, following its judgment of June 2017, the Constitutional Court acted inconsistently by finding, three months later, that the authors’ appeal lacked sufficient prospect of success. In their case before the Constitutional Court, the authors had referred to a UNHCR report of 29 November 2016 citing the deterioration in the reception conditions in Bulgaria. The authors state their intention of filing an appeal before the Supreme Administrative Court.20 6.3 Following their removal to Bulgaria, the father fell down the stairs and had to undergo surgery. He suffered from a postoperative inflammation and needed another operation but it was unclear who was responsible for the costs of the treatment. The mother too needed a medical examination after she had tripped and fallen but, more than a week after the incident, she had still not received treatment due to a lack of interpreters. 6.4 The authors note that after returning to Bulgaria they lived in collective accommodation near Sofia. They submit that they lived in a very remote location, that the father was unable to accompany the children to school because he depended on crutches and that the children were consequently not attending school. The mother was unable to look after the children because of her depression. The family was living in a single room that could not be locked. They initially received a monthly support payment from the State of €14 per person, but those payments ceased. The authors further submit that they were not informed sufficiently of the current state of asylum procedures in Bulgaria due to a lack of interpreters. 6.5 The authors refer to reports on the situation of asylum procedures and reception conditions in Bulgaria.21 They observe that several States members of the European Union stopped carrying out Dublin Regulation transfers to Bulgaria between January and November 2016. The reports confirm serious malfunctions in the Bulgarian asylum system, including long detention, overcrowded facilities, poor quality of sanitary and living conditions, as well as a lack of support besides accommodation, nutrition and basic medical services, including the cancellation of monthly financial allowances from 1 February 2015. 6.6 The authors note that in December 2016 the Committee concluded in R.A.A. and Z.M. v. Denmark that the removal of a Syrian family to Bulgaria would amount to a violation of article 7 of the Covenant. The authors also submit that Austria and Hungary removed vulnerable Syrian-Kurdish and Afghan authors to Bulgaria in 2017 despite interim measure requests by the Committee. The authors refer to decisions by courts in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, from 2016 and 2017, finding that the transfer of individuals to Bulgaria under the Dublin Regulation would entail a risk of inhuman or degrading treatment and observing the existence of systematic deficiencies in the Bulgarian asylum system. State party’s additional observations 7. On 29 May 2018, the State party added that in its decision of 21 September 2017 the Constitutional Court had concluded that the Federal Administrative Court had not interpreted Austrian law in a manner contrary to human rights law nor committed any gross procedural errors constituting a violation of human rights law. The State party observes that the Supreme Administrative Court had, on 20 February 2018, rejected the father’s appeal 20 21 Ibid. Iliana Savova, “Country report: Bulgaria – 2017 update”, Asylum Information Database (available from www.asylumineurope.org/reports/country/bulgaria); UNHCR, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Organization for Migration, “Refugee and migrant children in Europe: accompanied, unaccompanied and separated”, June 2017 (available from www.unicef.org/eca/ sites/unicef.org.eca/files/eca-dataprod-Infographic_Children_and_UASC_2017_11July.pdf); and Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, “New threats to the rule of law in Council of Europe member States: selected examples”, 25 September 2017. 9