Last updated on March 26th, 2024 at 01:16 pm

Regarding B.A.A., and her minor son, vs. Denmark in violation of article 7 of CCPR.

The author fled Eritrea when she refused to join the army and arrived in Italy in 2008 and granted temporary residence permit. She went to Milan, but struggled finding job or housing, and was forced to live in an abandoned building with other refugees and immigrants. The environment was full of alcohol and drugs and felt very unsafe, with daily fights and violence, and on one occasion she was assaulted. When she got pregnant, she feared for the safety of her unborn child and decided to leave Italy for Denmark and seek asylum – but the Danish authorities refused to process their application for asylum, as she had been granted international protection in Italy. Consequently, the author and her son, now aged two and a half months, was ordered to leave Denmark immediately. The author claims that her forcible return to Italy would violate her and her child’s rights by the State party, as she was not able to find adequate housing, legal work, sufficient food or any temporary or durable humanitarian solution. The Committee considers that the State did not give due consideration to the special vulnerability of the author, a single mother, with a three-year-old child, who had previously experienced homelessness and destitution in Italy, and the Committee is of the view that the deportation of the author and her son to Italy would violate their rights under article 7 of the Covenant.