Case Law

The ECtHR considered it more appropriate to examine the complaints concerning the failure of France to comply with the interim relief orders of the Administrative Court ordering that the applicants must be taken into emergency accommodation and the absence of an effective emergency procedure for the enforcement of an interim relief order solely under Article 6 ECHR (§§ 91, 92). The ECtHR considered that the decision to grant or refuse emergency accommodation constituted a civil right and thus held that Article 6 § 1 ECtHR was applicable. The case concerned asylum-seekers who were without accommodation at the time of the events, and in whose favour the urgent-applications judge of the administrative court ordered the State to provide them with emergency accommodation.

30 December 2022 | Judicial Body: Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights | Legal Instrument: 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) | Topic(s): Decision on admissibility - Effective remedy - Exhaustion of domestic remedies - Rule of law / Due process / Procedural fairness | Countries: Congo, Democratic Republic of the - France - Georgia

Discrimination; intérêt supérieur de l’enfant; développement de l’enfant; droit de l’enfant d’être entendu dans toute procédure judiciaire ou administrative l’intéressant; protection et assistance humanitaire voulues pour les enfants réfugiés; droit de l’enfant de jouir du meilleur état de santé possible; traitements inhumains ou dégradants

6 October 2021 | Judicial Body: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) | Topic(s): Children's rights - Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment - Rule of law / Due process / Procedural fairness - Statelessness | Countries: Bulgaria - Switzerland - Syrian Arab Republic

23 September 2021 | Judicial Body: South Africa: Supreme Court of Appeal | Topic(s): Burden of proof - Credibility assessment - Persecution based on political opinion - Rule of law / Due process / Procedural fairness | Countries: Somalia - South Africa

In a landmark judgment, the Federal Administrative Court acknowledged the existence of a new specific circumstance that goes against the granting of family asylum. In addition, it considered that the result of the assessment of evidence made in the original, already concluded, asylum procedure cannot be simply transposed to the subsequent family asylum procedure. The right to be heard must be granted again and the results assessed separately.

1 July 2020 | Judicial Body: Switzerland: Tribunal administratif fédéral | Topic(s): Refugee status determination (RSD) / Asylum procedures - Right to family life - Rule of law / Due process / Procedural fairness | Countries: China - Switzerland

It finds that, although asylum-seekers are not entitled to have their asylum application processed in one of the two types of procedures, an infringement of the right to an effective appeal within the meaning of Article 29a of the Swiss Federal Constitution and Article 13 in relation to Article 3 ECHR may arise if, despite the complexity of the matter, a decision is made, incorrectly, not to opt for an extended procedure and therefore the short time limit for appeal applies instead of the standard one.

9 June 2020 | Judicial Body: Switzerland: Tribunal administratif fédéral | Topic(s): Appeal / Right to appeal - Refugee status determination (RSD) / Asylum procedures - Rule of law / Due process / Procedural fairness

Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), the applicant complained that if removed to Sudan he would be at risk of forced recruitment, persecution because he belonged to a non-Arab ethnic group from Darfur, and more generally, on account of the humanitarian situation in Sudan as a result of the conflict in Darfur. No violation of Article 3 – in the event of the applicant’s removal to Sudan No violation of Article 13 taken together with Article 3

2 June 2020 | Judicial Body: Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights | Legal Instrument: 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) | Topic(s): Effective remedy - Expulsion - Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment - Racial / Ethnic persecution - Rule of law / Due process / Procedural fairness | Countries: Netherlands - Sudan