Title	CASE OF N.D. AND N.T. v. SPAIN (Applications nos. 8675/15 and 8697/15) (Grand Chamber)
Publisher	Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights
Publication Date	13 February 2020
Country	Côte d'Ivoire | Spain | Morocco | Mali
Topics	Effective remedy | Expulsion | Non-refoulement | Rejection at border
Citation / Document Symbol	ECLI:CE:ECHR:2020:0213JUD000867515
Other Languages / Attachments	French version | Legal summary ECtHR | Press release ECtHR
Related Document(s)	N.D. et N.T. c. Espagne  |  Submission by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the cases of N.D. and N.T. v. Spain (Appl. Nos 8675/15 and 8697/15) before the European Court of Human Rights  |  Supplementary observations by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the case of N.D. and N.T. v Spain before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights  |  UNHCR's oral intervention before the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber hearing in the case of N.D. and N.T. v. Spain (Application Nos. 8675/15 and 8697/15)
Cite as	CASE OF N.D. AND N.T. v. SPAIN (Applications nos. 8675/15 and 8697/15) (Grand Chamber), ECLI:CE:ECHR:2020:0213JUD000867515 , Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, 13 February 2020, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,ECHR,5e4691d54.html [accessed 1 October 2022]
Comments	The case concerned the immediate return to Morocco of two nationals of Mali and Côte d’Ivoire who on 13 August 2014 attempted to enter Spanish territory in an unauthorised manner by climbing the fences surrounding the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the North African coast. The Court considered that the applicants had in fact placed themselves in an unlawful situation when they had deliberately attempted to enter Spain on 13 August 2014 by crossing the Melilla border protection structures as part of a large group and at an unauthorised location, taking advantage of the group’s large numbers and using force. They had thus chosen not to use the legal procedures which existed in order to enter Spanish territory lawfully. Consequently, the Court considered that the lack of individual removal decisions could be attributed to the fact that the applicants – assuming that they had wished to assert rights under the Convention – had not made use of the official entry procedures existing for that purpose, and that it had thus been a consequence of their own conduct. In so far as it had found that the lack of an individualised procedure for their removal had been the consequence of the applicants’ own conduct, the Court could not hold the respondent State responsible for the lack of a legal remedy in Melilla enabling them to challenge that removal.
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