European Court of Human Rights

Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 184

April 2015

W.H. v. Sweden (striking out) [GC] - 49341/10

Judgment 8.4.2015 [GC] See: Grand Chamber Judgment [2015] ECHR 361 and Chamber Judgment [2014] ECHR 333

Article 37

Article 37-1

Striking out applications

Order for deportation of a Mandaean woman to Iraq: struck-out following grant of residence permit

Article 3

Expulsion

Order for deportation of a Mandaean woman to Iraq: struck-out following grant of residence permit

Facts - The applicant was an Iraqi woman belonging to the Mandaean minority. In 2007 she moved to Sweden and applied for asylum on the ground that, in her home country, the members of her ethnic group were subjected to extortion, kidnappings and murder and women and children were forced to convert to Islam, often after being assaulted and raped. She also feared that, as she was divorced, she would be forcibly remarried. Moreover, she was a single woman without a social network in Iraq, and she had a relationship with a Muslim man in Sweden, a situation that would never be accepted in Iraq. In December 2009 her application for asylum was definitively rejected on the ground that the threat concerning forced marriage was primarily related to the general security situation in Iraq which had since improved.

In a judgment of 27 March 2014, a Chamber of the Court held unanimously that the implementation of the deportation order against the applicant would not give rise to a violation of Article 3 of the Convention, provided that she was not returned to parts of Iraq situated outside the Kurdistan Region, which could be considered relatively safe.

On 8 September 2014 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber at the applicant’s request (see Information Note 177).

On 15 October 2014 the Migration Board granted the applicant a permanent residence permit in Sweden.

Law - Article 37 § 1: Considering that the applicant had been granted a permanent residence permit in Sweden and that she did not intend to pursue her application, the matter could be regarded as resolved within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (b) of the Convention. Furthermore, there were no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which required the continued examination of the case.

Conclusion: struck-out (unanimously).

(See the Factsheet on Expulsions and extraditions)

 

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