Germany – High Administrative Court Nordrhein-Westfalen, 26 October 2010, 3 A 1627/10.A

Facts:

The applicants are two women (mother and daughter) from Chechnya, whose asylum application was rejected in June 2005. An appeal to the Administrative Court of Minden proved unsuccessful.

In their application to the High Administrative Court to grant a further appeal the applicants asked for clarification of the question of whether it is necessary for Chechens to return to their former place of residence in Chechnya in order to obtain the documents which would be necessary to legally stay in other parts of the Russian Federation.

Decision & reasoning:

The question raised in the application to grant a further appeal did not have to be clarified since the risks which Chechens would face in Chechnya because of the regional government's arbitrariness are not connected with their ethnicity and therefore did not constitute incidents of persecution directed against the group. This is the prevailing opinion among the High Administrative Courts. 

The High Administrative Court further examined the issue of internal protection (Art 8 of the Qualification Directive). The relevant point in time for the test as to whether an internal protection alternative exists is the present (i.e. the time of decision-making on the application to the High Administrative Court). The High Administrative Court concluded that the severity and the „density“ of repressive measures of state actors against Chechens in other parts of the Russian Federation are not sufficient to assume that Chechens are persecuted for their membership of their ethnic group. Therefore it can be assumed that Chechens are safe from persecution in other parts of the country within the meaning of Art 8.1 of the Qualfication Directive.

Furthermore, Chechens can reasonably be expected to reside in other parts of the country. While it is accepted that Chechens may face problems with registration in other parts of the Russian Federation, such problems can be negotiated, and even if registration may take some time, it is still possible to safeguard one's means of existence in the meantime.

Outcome:

The application to grant leave for a further appeal was rejected.