Case summaries

  • My search
  • Relevant International and European Legislation
    1
Reset
ECtHR - N.D. and N.T. v. Spain [GC], nos. 8675/15 and 8697/15, 13 February 2020
Country of applicant: Ivory Coast, Mali

The Court found no violation of the Convention given that the applicants would have had access to a genuine and effective possibility of submitting arguments against their expulsion had  they entered lawfully into Spain – they did not have any “cogent reasons” for not using the border procedures available at designated entry points. As such, the lack of an individualised procedure for their removal was the consequence of their own conduct.

Date of decision: 13-02-2020
Relevant International and European Legislation: Art 1,Art 3,Art 32,Art 33,Art 31,Art 4,Art 16,Art 22,Article 4,Article 18,Article 19,Art 19.1,Art 19.2,Article 47,Article 6,Article 7,Article 8,Article 9,Article 10,Article 1,Article 2,Article 4,Article 5,Article 8,Article 12,Article 13,Art 33.2,Article 1,Article 3,Article 13,Article 13,Article 2,Article 4,Article 14,Article 21,Art 4,Art. 3,Article 67,Article 78
Greece - 7th Appeals Committee, 28 June 2019
Country of applicant: Venezuela

The political, humanitarian and economic crisis in Venezuela can justify subsidiary protection status if the individual’s return to the country of origin, would cause serious harm, characterized by the level of seriousness required to be considered as inhuman and degrading treatment.

Date of decision: 28-06-2019
Relevant International and European Legislation: Art 1A (2),Art 33,EN - Recast Asylum Procedures Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council,Article 3,Article 15,EN - Recast Qualification Directive, Directive 2011/95/EU of 13 December 2011,UN Convention against Torture,Art. 3
Switzerland: Federal Administrative Court (BVG), 12.06.2019, BVGE 3078/2019
Country of applicant: Syria

The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) must carry out an individualised examination to determine whether there are substantial grounds for believing that the asylum procedure of the Member State where the applicant shall be transferred to has systemic weaknesses that would entail a risk of inhuman treatment or chain deportation.

Date of decision: 12-06-2019
Relevant International and European Legislation: EN - Asylum Procedures Directive, Council Directive 2005/85/EC of 1 December 2005,Art 33,Article 4,EN - Recast Asylum Procedures Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council,EN - Reception Conditions Directive, Directive 2003/9/EC of 27 January 2003,EN - Dublin II Regulation, Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003,Article 3,Article 3,Article 5,Article 7,Article 8,Article 15,Article 17,Article 18,Article 20,Article 21,Article 22,Article 29,EN - Recast Reception Conditions Directive, Directive 2013/33/EU of 26 June 2013,Art. 3
Italy - Tribunal of Trapani - Office of the Judge for Preliminary Investigations (Piero Grillo)
Country of applicant: Ghana, Sudan

The Court recognised self-defence in a case where migrants were charged with assault against a police officer following their rescue at sea and their impending return to Libya. Their well-founded fear of return to Libya provided the basis for their defence of duress. 

Date of decision: 23-05-2019
Relevant International and European Legislation: 1951 Refugee Convention,Article 4,Article 18,Article 19,Article 3,UN Convention against Torture,Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 2010/C 83/01
Switzerland – Supreme Administrative Court, 10. July 2018, E-5022/2017
Country of applicant: Eritrea

The judgment deals with the admissibility of the execution of an expulsion order of an Eritrean who illegally left the country. Despite the assumption that the entry into the national service in the country of origin constitutes forced labour within the meaning of Art. 4 para. 2 ECHR, enforcement is permissible since there was no flagrant violation of Art. 4 para. 2 ECHR.

Date of decision: 10-07-2018
Relevant International and European Legislation: Art 1A,Art 33,Article 3,Art. 3
CJEU – C-353/16, MP v Secretary of State for the Home Department
Country of applicant: Sri Lanka

The fact that a person cannot be repatriated under Article 3 of the ECHR does not imply that that person should be granted a leave to reside in the host country by way of subsidiary protection under Directive 2004/83. The person concerned is eligible for subsidiary protection only if there is a real risk of him being intentionally deprived, in his country of origin, of appropriate health care.

Date of decision: 24-04-2018
Relevant International and European Legislation: Art 2 (e),Art 2,Art 18,Art 15,Art 4,Art 6,Art 4.4,Recital 6,Recital 25,Article 5,Article 3,Recital (12),Recital (34),Article 2,Article 4,Article 6,Article 15,Article 16,Article 18,Art. 3
Switzerland – Federal Administrative Court, 5th September 2017, E-305/2017
Country of applicant: Morocco
According to the principle of non-Refoulement, Switzerland is obliged to apply Art. 17 Dublin-III-Regulation, examining an asylum application, if otherwise a provision of public international law could be infringed. 
 
That is the case when there is substantial evidence indicating that an asylum seeker will be tortured again in his home country, but the originally responsible state denied asylum and decided to deport the person. It needs to be examined, whether and to what extent the authorities included the evidence regarding torture in their decision-making.
 
Date of decision: 05-09-2017
Relevant International and European Legislation: Art 33,Article 3,Article 3,Article 17,Article 18,Art. 3
UK - The Queen (Hamdi Hussain Ali Hadey) v. Secretary of the State for the Home Department
Country of applicant: Sudan

The Court rejected the Applicant's challenges to the respondent's decision to certify his asylum claim and deport him, on the grounds (i) of his mistaken assessment of his probable situation if deported to Italy, (ii) of his misreading of the Dublin III Regulation, specifically insofar as it applies to effective remedy.   

Date of decision: 22-05-2017
Relevant International and European Legislation: EN - Qualification Directive, Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004,EN - Asylum Procedures Directive, Council Directive 2005/85/EC of 1 December 2005,European Union Law,International Law,Council of Europe Instruments,EN - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,Article 47,EN - Recast Asylum Procedures Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council,EN - Returns Directive, Directive 2008/115/EC of 16 December 2008,EN - Dublin II Regulation, Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003,EN - Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,EN - Dublin III Regulation, Council Regulation (EC) No. 604/2013 of 26 June 2013 (recast Dublin II Regulation),Article 17,Article 27,Article 29,EN - Recast Qualification Directive, Directive 2011/95/EU of 13 December 2011,UN Convention against Torture
United Kingdom - VB and Another (draft evaders and prison conditions) Ukraine Country Guidance, 1 March 2017
Country of applicant: Ukraine

It is not reasonably likely that a draft-evader would face criminal/administrative proceedings in Ukraine but there is a real risk that a person sentenced to imprisonment in Ukraine would be detained on arrival there and that detention conditions would breach Article 3 ECHR.

Date of decision: 01-03-2017
Relevant International and European Legislation: EN - Qualification Directive, Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004,Art 15 (b),Art 2 (e),Art 4.3,Art 2,Art 18,Art 15,Art 4,Art 2 (f),European Union Law,International Law,Council of Europe Instruments,EN - Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,Article 3,UN Convention against Torture
Greece - Administrative Court of Appeal of Piraeus, 56/2016
Country of applicant: Syria

The Court of Appeal rejected a request rebutting the presumption of Turkey as a safe third country for a Syrian national of Armenian origin who resided there for one year and held a work permit, on the ground that general references to human rights violations and deficiencies in Turkey’s asylum system did not suffice to establish a real and individualised risk of persecution or indirect refoulement to Syria.

Date of decision: 30-09-2016
Relevant International and European Legislation: 1951 Refugee Convention,Art 1A (2),EN - Asylum Procedures Directive, Council Directive 2005/85/EC of 1 December 2005,Art 2,Art 33,Art 38,Art 33,European Union Law,International Law,Council of Europe Instruments,EN - Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,Article 3,EN - Recast Qualification Directive, Directive 2011/95/EU of 13 December 2011,Article 9,Article 15,UN Convention against Torture