EDAL case summaries

The official date of an Islamic marriage contracted in Syria needs to be determined with reference to Syrian law. An official notice by the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry’s states that “in the opinion of the Syrian authorities, the date set by the Sharia Court will be the official date of marriage.”

If according to the marriage certificate issued by the Sharia Court the marriage predates a sponsor’s entry into the Netherlands, it is sufficiently established that a valid marriage existed before this entry, also when registration before the Sharia...

The State Secretary for Security and Justice rejects an application for temporary asylum residence permits by two Syrian minors based on the finding that Lebanon is a Safe Third Country for the applicants. The Court of The Hague rules that the State Secretary failed to sufficiently motivate his decision, as article 3.106a(1)(e) of the Aliens Decree was not taken into account. 

A decision by the State Secretary for Security and Justice (the “State Secretary”) of the Netherlands will be in violation of: (i) Article 3.37e of the Foreigners Regulation 2000 if such decision, regarding whether a country qualifies as a safe third country, is not based on several information sources; and/or, (ii) Articles 3.2 and 3.46 of the Dutch General Administrative Law Act on the basis that all decisions of the State Secretary are required to (a) be carefully prepared and (b) include a decisive motivation.

If an Applicant, whilst his asylum application is being processed, is held in a limited area, this may be in contravention of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”). In determining this, the Court may take into account all of the circumstances of the case, in particular the nature, period and effect of the holding of the Applicant and how the holding of the Applicant is enforced.