CCPR/C/131/D/3069/2017
The Committee has also indicated that the risk must be personal 28 and that there is a high
threshold for providing substantial grounds to establish that a real risk of irreparable harm
exists. 29 All relevant facts and circumstances must be considered, including the general
human rights situation in the author’s country of origin.30 The Committee recalls that it is
generally for the organs of States parties to examine the facts and evidence of the case in
question in order to determine whether such a risk exists,31 unless it can be established that
the assessment was clearly arbitrary or amounted to a manifest error or denial of justice. 32
9.4
In regard to the author’s claims about his faith and conversion, regardless of the
sincerity of the conversion, the test remains whether there are substantial grounds for
believing that such a conversion may have sufficiently serious adverse consequences in the
country of origin as to create a real risk of irreparable harm, as contemplated by articles 6
and 7 of the Covenant. Therefore, even if it is found that the reported conversion is not sincere,
the authorities should proceed to assess whether, in the circumstances of the case, the
behaviour and activities of the asylum seeker in connection with his or her conversion or
convictions could have sufficiently serious adverse consequences in the country of origin as
to put him or her at risk of irreparable harm.33 In that connection, the Committee recalls that
States parties should give sufficient weight to the real and personal risk that a person might
face if deported and considers that it was incumbent upon the State party to undertake an
individualized assessment of the risk that the author would face in Afghanistan.34
9.5
In the present case, the Committee notes that the author claims that his allegation
regarding his conversion was not adequately examined by the migration authorities. However,
the Committee also notes that the State party argues that the author’s claim regarding the
alleged conversion was not deemed to be credible, as the information about the conversion
was raised at a very late stage of the asylum process and his explanation for the late
submission was not convincing. The Committee also notes the decision of the Migration
Board of 26 October 2017, in which it examined the author’s allegation concerning his
conversion but considered there was a good reason to question the motives behind the
author’s baptism, which took place on 22 October 2017 when he was taken into detention by
the enforcing police authority. The Migration Board also took into account that the author
had never mentioned his conversion before, even though he had had an opportunity to do so
at the time of his first application for a re-examination. The fact that he claimed his
conversion at a very late state of the asylum proceedings has affected the credibility of his
information negatively, especially since at that time he had been in Sweden for more than
two years and had had several chances to inform the migration authorities about his
conversion earlier, in particular after April 2017 when his parents allegedly left Sweden.
9.6
In that regard, the Committee recalls its jurisprudence that an author carries the burden
of proof to support the allegations of a personal and real risk of irreparable harm if deported,
including the obligation to submit evidence sufficiently in advance of the decisions of the
national authorities, unless the information could not have been presented before.35 In the
circumstances of the present case, the Committee considers the author’s claims about the risk
to which he would be exposed in Afghanistan as a recent convert to be of a general and vague
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
K v. Denmark (CCPR/C/114/D/2393/2014), para. 7.3; P.T. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/113/D/2272/2013),
para. 7.2; and X v. Denmark (CCPR/C/110/D/2007/2010), para. 9.2; Q.A. v. Sweden
(CCPR/C/127/D/3070/2017), para. 9.3; A.E. v. Sweden (CCPR/C/128/D/3300/2019), para 9.3.
X v. Denmark, para. 9.2; X v. Sweden (CCPR/C/103/D/1833/2008), para. 5.18; Q.A. v. Sweden, para.
9.3; A.E. v. Sweden, para 9.3.
Ibid.
Pillai et al. v. Canada (CCPR/C/101/D/1763/2008), para. 11.4; and Z.H. v. Australia
(CCPR/C/107/D/1957/2010), para. 9.3.
For example, K v. Denmark, para. 7.4; Y.A.A. and F.H.M. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/119/D/2681/2015)
para. 7.3; and Rezaifar v. Denmark (CCPR/C/119/D/2512/2014), para. 9.3; Q.A. v. Sweden, para. 9.3
A.E. v. Sweden, para 9.3.
S.A.H. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/121/D/2419/2014), para. 11.8. Q.A. v. Sweden, para. 9.5, J.I. v. Sweden
(CCPR/C/128/D/3032/2017), para 7.5. See also European Court of Human Rights, F.G. v. Sweden
(judgment, 23 March 2016), para. 156.
See A.B.H. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/126/D/2603/2015), para.9.10, Q.A. v. Sweden, para. 9.6.
See, for example, I.K. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/125/D/2373/2014), para. 9.7, M.P. et al. v. Denmark
(CCPR/C/121/D/2643/2015), para. 8.7, and A.E. v. Sweden, para.9.7.
11