The authors of the communication are M.A. and Z.A., nationals of Afghanistan born on 3 October 2006 and 19 December 2016, respectively. They submit the communication on their own behalf. The authors allege that the State party has violated their rights under articles 3 (1), 6 (2), 12, 16, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28 and 37 of the Convention. The authors are represented by counsel. The Optional Protocol entered into force for the State party on 12 November 2015.
Together with their parents and sister, the authors were registered as asylum-seekers in Greece and were granted residence permits based on international protection, from 9 March 2020 to 8 March 2023. On 9 November 2021, the authors applied for asylum in Finland. On 28 July 2022, the Finnish Immigration Service rejected their application for asylum and ordered their return to Greece. On 5 August 2022, the authors appealed the decision of the Finnish Immigration Service before the Helsinki Administrative Court. On the same day, the Helsinki Administrative Court upheld the decision of the Finnish Immigration Service, thus rejecting the authors’ request for interim measures, thereby making the return order enforceable by the police at any time. From 20 to 27 September 2022, the authors and their sister were placed in emergency care at Pollentier’s youth home. Subsequently, with the support of relatives residing in Finland, they left the home to be under the care of a reception centre. On 21 December 2022, the Helsinki Administrative Court issued a subsequent decision confirming the denial of the authors’ multiple requests for interim measures. Each request was accompanied by new medical statements supporting the children’s needs and highlighting their parents’ compromised mental health, which hindered their ability to care for the children.
On 30 December 2022, the Committee, acting through its working group on communications, registered the communication and granted interim measures under article 6 of the Optional Protocol.
On 16 February 2023, the State party submitted its observations on the admissibility of the communication and requested that admissibility be examined separately from the merits.
On 4 September 2023, the authors provided comments on the State party’s observations.
On 2 November 2023, the State party reported that, by a decision of 7 September 2023, the Finnish Immigration Service had granted the authors and their parents continuous residence permits on humanitarian grounds, under section 52 of the Aliens Act, valid for one year as of the date of the decision. The State party therefore requested that the Committee discontinue the case.
On 22 January 2024, the authors agreed that the communication be discontinued.
At its meeting on 26 January 2024, the Committee, taking into account that the authors had been granted continuous residence permits and were therefore no longer at risk of being returned to Greece, considered that the case had become moot and decided to discontinue consideration of communication No. 206/2022, in accordance with rule 26 of its rules of procedure under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure.