Finland ordered to compensate 3 asylum-seekers

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Thursday ordered the state to pay 3,500 euro in compensation in two separate cases to three people who sought asylum in Finland but were denied at the initial stage.

The court issued two decisions concerning Finland by which it has removed these matters from its list of cases, said the foreign ministry in a press release.

In one case, the applicants were a couple and in the other, the applicant was their adult son.

The applicants had sought international protection from Finland in 2015. The Finnish Immigration Service rejected their asylum applications and decided to return the family to Iraq. The Administrative Court rejected the appeals and the Supreme Administrative Court did not grant leave to appeal in the cases.

The family applied for international protection again in 2018. The Finnish Immigration Service did not examine the new asylum applications as subsequent applications and imposed on the applicants a two-year entry ban to the Schengen area. The Administrative Court rejected the appeals against this decision and the Supreme Administrative Court did not grant leave to appeal.

The applicants lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights claiming that their return to Iraq would constitute an infringement of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ECtHR had indicated to Finland interim measures according to which the applicants could not be returned until the ECtHR had ruled on their cases.

The parents submitted a third application for asylum in Finland on 4 October 2019. On 6 April 2020, the Finnish Immigration Service granted asylum to the parents. The adult son submitted a third application for asylum on 6 May 2020. On 12 June 2020, the Finnish Immigration Service granted him asylum, too.

Due to the above-mentioned reasons, the ECtHR considered the circumstances that led to the complaints were duly resolved nationally and that it is therefore not necessary to continue the proceedings.

It removed the complaints from its list of cases. With regard to the claims for reimbursement of their legal costs and expenses incurred by the applicants, the ECtHR ordered the State to compensate M.A. and S.A. the sum of EUR 2,000 and A.A. the sum of EUR 1,500.