Legal Information

In its judgment E 3047/2021 issued 24 September 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled that based on the Austrian COI Unit’s (Staatendokumentation) country information sheet on Afghanistan dated 11 June 2021 , the risk of an armed conflict between the Taliban and government troops affecting the whole country should have been apparent to the Federal Administrative Court at the date of its decision on 1 July 2021. Thus, the risk of a serious threat to life or physical integrity as a result of arbitrary violence in the context of an internal conflict for members of the civilian population such as the complainant must have been clear to the Federal Administrative Court at the time of its decision. Furthermore, the Constitutional Court found that due to the widespread media coverage of the developments in Afghanistan, the Federal Administrative Court had to assume that the security situation in Afghanistan was to be classified as extremely volatile. It also reiterated that widespread media coverage must be considered notorious. The Constitutional Court therefore found that the Federal Administrative Court did not meet its obligation to investigate in detail the existence of a real risk of a violation of Art 2 or Art 3 ECHR if the complainant were to return to Afghanistan in view of the almost daily changing situation in the armed conflict between the Taliban and the Afghan government and its troops. The Federal Administrative Court had denied a military conflict in certain places, without considering the serious threat of an imminent significant deterioration of the security situation, that had in fact already partially occurred across the country and was possibly imminent in the places which the Federal Administrative Court considered an internal flight alternative for the complainant (namely Mazar-e Sharif and Herat). Since the Federal Administrative Court’s assumption of the complainant’s return situation in line with Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR was solely momentarily without considering the rapidly changing security situation in Afghanistan, its findings were found to be arbitrary by the Constitutional Court.

24 September 2021 | Judicial Body: Austria: Constitutional Court of Austria (Verfassungsgerichtshof) | Topic(s): Asylum-seekers - Country of origin information (COI) | Countries: Afghanistan - Austria

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

The case concerns the Danish authorities’ decision in 2018 to expel the applicant, with a permanent ban on his re-entry to the country, following his conviction for possession of a firearm. Relying on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention, the applicant submits that, in their decisions, the Danish courts failed to weigh in the balance that he did not have a significant criminal past, that he had never been issued with a warning that he might be expelled, and that he had strong ties to Denmark where he has lived with his family since he was four years old.

14 September 2021 | Judicial Body: Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights | Topic(s): Expulsion | Countries: Denmark - Somalia

Relying on Article 2 (right to life) and Article 3 (prohibition on inhuman or degrading treatment), the applicants complain that their expulsion to Syria would put them at grave physical risk. Some of the applicants also complain under Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) that they had no effective domestic remedies in respect of their complaints under Articles 2 and 3 that their detention pending removal was arbitrary and the examination of their complaints against detention orders was not speedy.

14 September 2021 | Judicial Body: Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights | Topic(s): Arbitrary arrest and detention - Effective remedy - Expulsion - Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment - Non-refoulement - Right to life | Countries: Russian Federation - Syrian Arab Republic

preliminary ruling on interpretation of article 40 Directive 2013/32/EU on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection

9 September 2021 | Judicial Body: European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union | Topic(s): Refugee status determination (RSD) / Asylum procedures | Countries: Austria - Iraq

The request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 2 (j) of Directive 2011/95 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 concerning the standards relating to the conditions to be met by third country nationals or stateless persons in order to benefit from international protection, to a uniform status for refugees or persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and to the content of this protection

9 September 2021 | Judicial Body: European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union | Legal Instrument: 2011 Recast Qualification Directive (EU) | Topic(s): Evidence (including age and language assessments / medico-legal reports) | Countries: Afghanistan - Germany

Examination of the same matter under another procedure of international investigation or settlement; non-exhaustion of domestic remedies Risk of torture upon return to country of origin; non-refoulement

31 August 2021 | Judicial Body: UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) | Legal Instrument: 1984 Convention against Torture (CAT) | Topic(s): Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment - Non-refoulement | Countries: China - Switzerland