Case summaries

The case concerns the examination of an asylum claim by the Austrian authorities and assessment of a real risk that the applicant would be subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 of the ECHR if expelled to Russia. 

The legal proceedings relating to an appeal regarding the granting of international protection are a summary process that give the judge certain official powers. As a consequence, the judge should decide on the merits of an appeal even if the Applicant fails to attend the hearing.

Regardless of the parallel extradition proceedings, the Ministry of the Interior is obliged within the proceedings to assess the consequences of prosecution of the Applicant for a criminal offence in the country of origin in the context of fulfilling the conditions for international protection. In case of fear of action by private persons, the possibility and effectiveness of protection provided by the state against such actions is to be assessed.

There has been a violation of Article 47 (2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union if there is a failure to hold a hearing at the Asylum Court, notwithstanding that the facts of the case are not sufficiently clear. Merely general statements without reference to the case in point do not represent sufficient grounds for the lack of credibility of the submission.

The Applicant, an unaccompanied Afghan minor, stated that he had left his home country owing to his abduction and the threat of sexual abuse by the local ruler. The right to a decision by the statutory judge was violated by the fact that the decision on the application for international protection was made by a court panel consisting of two judges, one male and one female.

When acting against expulsion on the basis of the ban on expulsion contained in Article 19(1) of Legislative Decree No 286 of 1998, a Justice of the Peace is obliged to establish, under the duty of investigation to which he is subject and which is equivalent to a judge in international protection matters, any circumstances that were not made available to the Territorial Commission because the Applicant was unable to present or disclose them and the Commission was unable to establish them.

A Somalian citizen, claiming to be from Mogadishu, had applied for international protection due to the lack of  safety in his/her native country and human rights violations infringements in Mogadishu.  According to his/her language assessment, he/she clearly didn’t speak the Somalian spoken in Southern Somalia but manifestly spoke the Somalian spoken in Northern Somalia.  The language assessment alone was not considered to be enough proof of domicile but taking into account his/her scant local knowledge of Mogadishu and partially contradictory accounts, it was deemed that he/she in fact was from Northern Somalia, Somaliland.  According to the report, the appellant and his/her underage children whom he/she brought along to Finland were not in need of international protection.

The CALL refers to the judgment in the case M. M. vs Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Ireland, Attorney General by the Court of Justice of the European Union in relation to the interpretation of Article 4 of Directive 2004/83/EC to point out the obligation of Member States to cooperate in establishing the relevant elements in the asylum-seeker's story and thus to carry out a further examination of the specific situation of the asylum seeker.

It is an administrative appeal brought before the High National Court against the Deputy Secretary of the Interior’s decision to dismiss the request to review the ruling which denied the claimant’s right to asylum.

The application for asylum was based on grounds of persecution as a result of the Applicant’s sexual orientation as a Cameroonian national.The application was rejected by the Ministry of the Interior as it was deemed that the claimant’s narrative did not portray personal persecution.

The High National Court reviewed the appeal and ruled that the State had not provided sufficient grounds to reject the validity and effectiveness of the documentation submitted by the Applicant.Therefore, the appeal was upheld and the claimant’s refugee status was recognised.

Membership of a social group is an objective social fact not dependent on members of the group or, if they are not in a position to do so, their next of kin, expressing their membership of that group.