Title AFFAIRE N.H. ET AUTRES c. FRANCE (Requête no 28820/13 et 2 autres)
Publisher Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights
Publication Date 2 July 2020
Country Afghanistan | France | Georgia | Islamic Republic of Iran | Russian Federation
Topics Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment | Reception | Refugee status determination (RSD) / Asylum procedures
Citation / Document Symbol ECLI:CE:ECHR:2020:0702JUD002882013
Other Languages / Attachments Press release English
Cite as AFFAIRE N.H. ET AUTRES c. FRANCE (Requête no 28820/13 et 2 autres), ECLI:CE:ECHR:2020:0702JUD002882013 , Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, 2 July 2020, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,ECHR,5f0455264.html [accessed 17 May 2023]
Comments The French authorities had failed in their duties under domestic law. They were found responsible for the conditions in which the applicants had been living for several months: sleeping rough, without access to sanitary facilities, having no means of subsistence and constantly in fear of being attacked or robbed. The applicants had thus been victims of degrading treatment, showing a lack of respect for their dignity. The Court found that such living conditions, combined with the lack of an appropriate response from the French authorities and the fact that the domestic courts had systematically objected that the competent bodies lacked resources in the light of their status as single young men, had exceeded the threshold of severity for the purposes of Article 3 of the Convention. The three applicants N.H., K.T. and A.J. had thus found themselves, through the fault of the French authorities, in a situation that was incompatible with Article 3 of the Convention.
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