Religion – Weltanschauung – Recht [ RWR ]

The case concerned the deportation of a failed-asylum seeker from Sweden to Iraq. The applicant, W.H., is an Iraqi national who was born in 1978 and currently lives in Sweden. She is originally from Baghdad and is of Mandaean denomination. She arrived in Sweden in August 2007 and subsequently claimed asylum. Her request was examined by the Migration Board and Migration Court and ultimately rejected in 2010 on the ground that she was not in need of protection in Sweden.

Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), W. H. alleged that, a divorcee belonging to a small, vulnerable ethnic/religious minority, she would be at real risk of inhuman and degrading treatment if returned to Iraq. She submitted in particular that, without a male network or any remaining relatives in Iraq, she would be at risk of persecution, assault, rape, forced conversion to another religion and forced marriage.

• No violation of Article 3 in the event of the applicant’s being deported to Iraq, provided that she is not returned to parts of Iraq situated outside the Kurdistan Region
• Interim measure (Rule 39 of the Rules of Court) – not to deport the applicant to Iraq – still in force until judgment becomes final or until further order

Press release ECHR 086 (2014) 27/03/2014