Facts

The author of the communication is a national of Afghanistan of the Hazara ethnic group who claims that his deportation to Afghanistan by Sweden would violate his rights under articles 6, 7, and 18 of the Covenant. 

The author states that he grew up as a Christian in Afghanistan with his parents. At the age of ten, he and his brother saw armed people outside of their house and their parents subsequently disappeared. The author believes these people were affiliated with the Taliban. The father’s colleague got the brothers to a smuggler who ultimately took them to Iran. After five years there, the author was put on a boat to Italy and subsequently driven to Sweden where he was assigned a legal guardian given that he was a minor. 

The author applied for asylum in Sweden which, like following appeals, was ultimately rejected as the Migration Agency found his accounts of his faith to be too brief, not detailed, and contradictory. The author claims that there is  a real and substantiated risk of irreparable harm, even death, to him should he be deported due to the severe persecution of Christians in Afghanistan. The author is particularly concerned about the public nature of his faith as he has made social media posts in relation to Christinaity, featured in televised religious masses, and been harassed by other detention inmates due to their knowledge of his faith. 

Admissibility

Regarding the article 18, the Committee notes that the author merely invokes this article without advancing any arguments to support this claim. Therefore, the Committee considers that this claim is insufficiently substantiated for the purposes of admissibility. The claims under articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant are sufficiently substantiated and this part of the communication is admissible. 

Merits

The Committee noted the significant deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan in recent times. However, on the basis of the information in the case file, the Committee considered itself not in a position to assess the extent to which the current situation in his country of origin may impact the author’s personal risk. This was most prominently based on the fact that the author failed to present sufficient evidence to substantiate his claim that his faith had attracted the attention ofAfghan authorities.

The Committee was thus of the view that the evidence and circumstances invoked by the author have not added sufficient grounds for demonstrating that he would face a real and personal risk of treatment contrary to articles 6, and 7 of the Covenant if returned to Afghanistan.

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