ECtHR - Communicated case against Belgium

Date: 
Thursday, April 26, 2018

On 26 April 2018, the ECtHR communicated case Nahhas and others v. Belgium (application no. 3599/18), which concerns a Syrian family who applied for a humanitarian visa at the Belgian consulate in Beirut. This application was rejected by the Belgian Aliens Office. On appeal, the Council for Alien Law Litigation (CALL) suspended this decision on an emergency basis, considering that the political and security situation in Aleppo was such that the applicants were at risk of violation of Article 3 ECHR. Despite this ruling, the visa request was rejected once again. The applicants took subsequent judicial actions, without success.

They complain before the ECtHR that the refusal by the Belgian authorities to execute the measures requested by the CALL left them in a situation contrary to Article 3 ECHR and without any access to an effective remedy as requested by Article 13 ECHR. They also complain of a violation of Articles 6(1) and 13 ECHR due to the impossibility to request the execution of the measures indicated by the CALL through judicial means.

Based on an unofficial translation by the ELENA Weekly Legal Update.

 


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Keywords: 
Effective remedy (right to)
Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Visa