European Court of Human Rights

THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 33680/11
S.R.
against the Netherlands

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 24 January 2012 as a Committee composed of:

Luis López Guerra, President,
Egbert Myjer,
Mihai Poalelungi, judges,
and Marialena Tsirli, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 31 May 2011,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant, Ms S. R., is an Afghan national who was born in 1983 and lives in Leiden. She was represented before the Court by Ms T. Neijzen, a lawyer practising in Leiden. The Dutch Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Deputy Agent, Ms L. Egmond, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The applicant complained under Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Convention about her real and personal risk of social rejection and violence at the hands of the Taleban and community members, as well as official prosecution for violating both Afghan and Shari’a law and numerous Afghan traditions by co-habiting and having children out of wedlock. She further complained under Article 8 of the Convention of a violation of her right to protection of her family life with her partner and children in the Netherlands should she be expelled to Afghanistan.

On 20 June 2011 the President of the Section decided, under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, that the applicant should not be expelled to Afghanistan pending the proceedings before the Court. The President of the Section also decided ex officio that the applicant’s identity should not be disclosed to the public (Rule 47 § 3).

On 21 June 2011 the Court decided to give notice to the Government of the applicant’s complaints detailed above.

On 20 September 2011 the Government informed the Court that the refusal to grant the applicant asylum had been revoked and that the domestic authorities would take a new decision on the applicant’s asylum request. A new assessment would also be made of the alleged Article 3 risks if the applicant were to be returned to Afghanistan. For this reason the Government requested the examination of the application before the Court to be adjourned.

On 8 November 2011 the Court granted the Government’s request and decided to adjourn the examination of the case.

On 2 December 2011 the Government informed the Court that, by a decision of 1 December 2011, the applicant had been granted a temporary residence permit, valid from 30 June 2009 until 30 June 2014. For that reason, the Government also requested the Court to strike the case out of the list on the basis of Article 37 of the Convention.

On 5 December 2011 the applicant’s representative informed the Court that the applicant had been granted a residence permit for the purpose of asylum and that the applicant therefore saw no need to continue the present proceedings. Accordingly, the applicant wanted to withdraw the application.

THE LAW

In the light of the foregoing, and in the absence of any special circumstances regarding respect for the rights guaranteed by the Convention or its Protocols, the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention.

In view of the above, it is appropriate to lift the interim measure indicated under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court and to strike the case out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

Marialena Tsirli Luis López Guerra
Deputy Registrar President