Kabul cannot be considered as a reasonable internal flight alternative for the complainant due to the lack of a sustainable social network for him there and no other particular factors which would enable the applicant's removal . Therefore the complainant does not meet the requirements for a removal to Afghanistan.
The complainant, an Afghan national and ethnic Hazara, was born in Kabul, where he spent the first year of his life. The family moved to the province of Ghazni afterwards. The complainant was only enrolled at school for two years and after the death of his father he had to support his family. He left Afghanistan and applied for asylum in Switzerland on the grounds that he was threatened by the Taliban and IS, and his mother and two sisters had since left to either Kabul or another province in Ghazni and he has little contact with them. His asylum application was refused by the Swiss authorities due to contradictory statements as to his family’s whereabouts. The State further found that given the presence of family members in Kabul he has a social network there that he can rely upon. Moreover, he is a young, healthy and single man who had repeatedly demonstrated his ability to work. There is, thus, no impediment to his return. The applicant appealed this decision to the Federal Administrative Court on grounds that he belonged to a threatened minority, his family had cut off contact with him, it was too dangerous for him to live in Ghazni alone and there was no reasonable internal flight alternative available to him in Kabul.
The Federal Administrative Court first summarises its previous case law from 2011 in respect of several regions of Afghanistan. The Court notes that information on the security situation in Afghanistan may quickly lose its validity due to the dynamics of the conflict, media outlets becoming targets of attacks, little reliable information on the number of victims and numerous reports, such as the 2016 EASO report, relying on a few anonymised sources. As such, the Court conducts a new detailed analysis of the prevailing situation stating that the overall security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated since 2011. It concludes that a removal to wide parts of Afghanistan is still not reasonable due to the unchanged worrying security situation and difficult humanitarian conditions which are be qualified as life-threatening in the sense of Art. 83 para. 4 Foreign National Act and that the execution of deportations must therefore continue to be judged unreasonable.
The Court, however, notes that the security situation and the general humanitarian situation in Kabul must be analysed separately, most notably since case law dating from 2011 found returns to Kabul as being reasonable. Nonetheless, in recent years, the Court highlights that there has been a significant increase in attacks in the urban centres, particularly in Kabul, with a high number of civilians often falling victim to the attacks. Thus, the Court finds that the situation in Kabul is life-threatening and that a removal to Kabul is, in principle, not reasonable within the meaning of Article 83 (4) of Foreign National Act . However, the Court states that in exceptional cases a removal to Kabul could be reasonable if there were particular factors enabling it (healthy single young men with a sustainable social network, a possibility to secure minimal subsistence needs and a stable housing situation). In this respect, the Court notes that the reasonability of the expulsion to Kabul is subject to strict criteria, which have to be examined on a case-by-case basis.
The Court concludes that the applicant's removal to Kabul is not reasonable since there is no sustainable social network and no other particular factors which would enable the applicant's removal. The applicant is, therefore, granted a provisional admission in Switzerland.
Appeal granted and the complainant is granted temporary admission in Switzerland.
The judgment is now final.
This ruling can be regarded as a new leading decision concerning the current security situation in Afghanistan.
This case summary was written by Laura ThimmBraun.
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Conflict Barometer 2016, S. 13 und 171 ff.
ACCORD, Expertengespräch, S. 24 f; Chronologie
Oxford; Landinfo, Hazara, S. 22 ff
BTI 2016, S. 5
UNHCR Guidelines, S. 16
KAS, S. 76
UN GA, Report I und II
UNAMA/OHCHR, Annual Report 2016, S. 10 ff., 17
UNAMA, Chief
AIHRC, Report, S. 12 f.
ICG 2016
HRW, World Report, S. 1 ff.
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UN-HABITAT Definition
NRC, Urban, S. 10; UNHCR, KIS, S. 2; UN OCHA, KIS, S. 2; RFE/RL, Changing; HRW, Return, S. 55 ff.