M.W. asserts that the Danish authorities removed her and her son’s names from the Danish Civil Registration System in 2010, and therefore recognized them as Austrian residents. The Regional State Administration could not transfer temporary sole custody of her son from a foreign mother to a Dane. In 2014, she filed a complaint with the police against officials for giving false allegations concerning the citizenship of her son and for illegally registering him as a Danish resident. Her complaints had been systematically ignored by the Danish authorities. The Austrian Supreme Court held that she has always been the sole custody holder.
The author asserted that the Danish authorities continued to ignore her queries concerning her son O.W. and her pending appeal. Her lawyer’s requests for oral hearings in the pending appeal regarding the enforcement of the Austrian Supreme Court’s decision had been denied. As the courts did not reply, she had filed a new application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in October 2014. She noted that her application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court had already been rejected six times. Her repeated requests for a copy of the records on her custody case from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had met with no success. In October 2014, she had no other choice than to report several officials for abuse of office, defamation and discrimination to the Danish police. She added that she had recently discovered that her son had received no medical treatment for more than 860 days, but that she had received no response to her enquiry to the authorities of Fredensborg for information. On 1 October 2014, she was informed that she could obtain no further information about O.W. Lastly, she reiterated that O.W. had been severely traumatized by his kidnapping but had received no assistance. She asserted that he had only recently, at 8 years of age, begun first grade at school, whereas children in Denmark normally began first grade at the age of 6.
The Committee is of the view that the facts before it reveal a violation of the rights of the author and her minor son O.W. under article 2, read in conjunction with article 1 and articles 5 (a) and (b), and 16 (1) (d), of the Convention.