Communicated on 24 October 2019 and 16 January 2020

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 48125/19 F.O. and Others against Italy and the Netherlands lodged on 13 September 2019

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns a Nigerian married couple who met in Italy and their baby who was born in July 2019 in the Netherlands. The applicants ’ asylum applications were not taken up for consideration by the Netherlands authorities as it was found that the Italian authorities were responsible for the processing of those applications pursuant to the Dublin Regulation. It was held that the entry into force of the new Italian Law No. 132/2018 – the so-called “ Salvini Decree” – did not lead to the conclusion that the asylum proceedings and reception conditions in Italy were affected by such systemic shortcomings that reliance could no longer be placed on the principle of mutual interstate trust ( interstatelijk vertrouwensbeginsel ). In her interviews with the Netherlands authorities, the woman had indicated that she had been granted a residence permit in Italy but that she had lost it during her journey to the Netherlands. Her husband had indicated that his asylum application had been rejected in Italy.

On 14 December 2018 the Netherlands authorities requested their Italian counterparts to accept the husband ’ s return to Italy under Article 18 § 1 (d) of the Dublin Regulation. As the Italian authorities failed to react to that request within two weeks, they were considered to have implicitly acceded to it by 29 December 2018.

On 24 December 2018 the Netherlands authorities requested their Italian counterparts to accept the woman ’ s return to Italy under Article 18 § 1 (b) of the Dublin Regulation. On 22 January 2019 the Italian authorities accepted this request.

After the applicants had unsuccessfully challenged the Netherlands authorities ’ decision in administrative appeal proceedings, the Netherlands authorities planned to return the applicants to Italy under the Dublin Regulation.

The applicants complain that their return to Italy under the Dublin Regulation, without individual guarantees from the Italian authorities that they will be provided with adequate reception facilities suited to shelter a family with a baby, will breach Article 3 of the Convention.

On the basis of information provided by the Italian Government on 9 December 2019, it became clear that, unlike the husband who was considered to be an asylum seeker in Italy, the woman had been granted a residence permit in Italy for “special protection”.

QUESTIONS TO THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT

And if so what are those differences as regards entitlement to housing, education, health care, social insurances and access to the labour market?

QUESTIONS TO THE NETHERLANDS GOVERNMENT

APPENDIX

No.

Applicant ’ s Name

Birth date

Nationality

Place of residence

1.F.O.

15/06/1994

Nigerian

Harderwijk

2.E.S.

14/07/2019

Nigerian

Harderwijk

3.P.S.

26/10/1995

Nigerian

Harderwijk