European Court of Human Rights gave its judgement concerning Finland in the case of the return of an asylum seeker to Iraq

On 26 September, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) gave its judgment concerning Finland in the case of the return of an asylum seeker to Iraq.

The applicant had sought international protection from Finland against the return to Iraq in 2015.

The Finnish Immigration Service rejected his application for asylum and residence permit and the Administrative Court also rejected his appeal.

The appellant lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights claiming that his return to Iraq would constitute an infringement of Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment) and 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECHR issued in the case an interim measure according to which the appellant could not be returned until his case with the ECHR had been dealt with.

By its decision of 19 December 2018, the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the decisions of the Administrative Court and the Finnish Immigration Service in so far as the appellants had not been granted a residence permit on the basis of subsidiarity protection and as regards refusal of entry. It referred the case back to the Finnish Immigration Service for granting a residence permit referred to in section 88, subsection 1 of the Aliens Act. On 15 February 2019, the Finnish Immigration Service granted the appellant a residence permit on the basis of subsidiary protection for a period of four years.

Due to the above-mentioned reasons, the ECHR considered that the circumstances that led to the complaint were duly resolved nationally and that it is therefore not necessary to continue the proceedings. It lifted the interim measure granted and struck the application from its list of cases.

The decision can be read on the ECHR website at: http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-196437(Link to another website.)

Inquiries: Päivi Rotola-Pukkila, Legal Counsellor, Unit for Human Rights Courts and Contracts, tel. +358 295 351 922.

The email addresses of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are in the format [email protected].