CCPR/C/114/D/2288/2013 decisions of the Appeals Board are final, which means that there is no avenue for appeal against the Board’s decisions. Aliens may, however, by virtue of the Danish Constitution, bring an appeal before the ordinary courts, which have the authority to adjudicate any matter concerning the limits to the competence of a public authority. As established by the Supreme Court, review by the ordinary courts of decisions made by the Refugee Appeals Board is limited to the points of law, including any inadequacy in the basis for the relevant decision or the illegal exercise of discretion. The Board’s assessment of evidence is not subject to review. 4.8 The Appeals Board may assign a legal counsel to asylum seekers and, in practice, it assigns a counsel in all asylum cases. The counsel can meet with the asylum seeker and study the case file and the existing background material before the individual Board hearing. Asylum proceedings before the Appeals Board are oral. The hearing is attended by the asylum seeker and his or her counsel, as well as an interpreter and a representative of the Danish Immigration Service. During the hearing, the asylum seeker is allowed to give a statement and answer questions. The counsel and the representative of the Danish Immigration Service are allowed to make closing remarks, whereupon the asylum seeker can give a final statement. Against that background, the State party submits that, if the Committee finds that article 14 of the Covenant applies to asylum proceedings, the author has not sufficiently established that this provision has been breached. 4.9 As to the author’s claims under articles 2, 3, 13, 18, 26 and 27 of the Covenant, the State party submits that they are manifestly ill-founded and points out that the author has failed to elaborate in any way on the circumstances on which her allegations are based. Therefore, it considers that there are no substantial grounds for believing that her rights under those provisions would be violated if she returned to Nigeria. 4.10 Furthermore, the State party points out that the Danish Refugee Appeals Board has given particular focus to human trafficking. It has drafted a memorandum, in which it has given an account of its case law relating to human trafficking. All the members of the Board have a copy of the memorandum, and it is referred to in the examination of similar cases. Victims of human trafficking who are not lawfully resident in Denmark are granted a so-called “reflection period”, that is, a longer period of time prior to departure from Denmark than that accorded to other aliens. The purpose of the reflection period is to give the individual time to recover and become empowered so as to overcome the victimization of human trafficking. The reflection period may be extended for medical reasons or if the victim is participating in the investigation or trial of human traffickers in Denmark. Preparations for returning a person to his or her country of origin are made on an individual basis, depending on the circumstances and wishes of the individual, and includes psychological assistance and training courses or tuition in Denmark to give the person the possibility of establishing an income base following his or her return, and arrangements in his or her country of origin, such as reception and reintegration assistance.4 Author’s comments on the State party’s observations 5. On 1 October 2014, the author submitted her comments on the State party’s observations on admissibility and merits. The author argues that she had sufficiently substantiated her allegations in her initial communication and highlights that she was a victim of human trafficking and that she received various threats in connection with her trafficking and with the fact that she testified against the perpetrators of her trafficking before the judicial authorities of the State party. 4 The State party does not explain whether this was applied in the author’s case. 7