THIRD SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 6187/07
by Armando Gustavo QUIÑONEZ HURTADO and Others
against the Netherlands
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 20 September 2007 as a Chamber composed of:
MrB.M. Zupančič, President,
MrC. Bîrsan,
MrsE. Fura-Sandström,
MrE. Myjer,
MrDavid Thór Björgvinsson,
MrsI. Ziemele,
MrsI. Berro-Lefèvre, judges,
and Mr S. Quesada, Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 8 February 2007,
Having regard to the decision to apply Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and examine the admissibility and merits of the case together,
Having regard to the interim measure indicated to the respondent Government under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court and the fact that this interim measure has been complied with,
Having regard to the decision to grant priority to the above application under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicants, Mr Gustavo Armando Quiñonez Hurtado and his wife Mrs Maria del Rosario Isaza Serna, are Colombian nationals who were born in 1977 and 1984 respectively and live in Luttelgeest. The application was also lodged on behalf of their two minor children. They were represented before the Court by Ms L. Vellenga-van Nieuwkerk, a lawyer practising in Alkmaar. The Dutch Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr R.A.A. Böcker, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
The applicants applied for asylum in the Netherlands on 8 July 2004, submitting that the first applicant had inter alia been declared a military target by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – “FARC”), that he had received threatening telephone calls, that he had been kidnapped by the FARC and that shots had been fired at the family home. The application was rejected, the final decision being taken by the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State (Afdeling Bestuursrechtspraak van de Raad van State) on 6 February 2007.
On 12 July 2007, following the notification of the present application to the respondent Government, the applicants’ representative submitted to the Court a copy of the decisions, taken the previous day by the Deputy Minister of Justice (Staatssecretaris van Justitie), in which the original decisions on the asylum applications were withdrawn and the applicants were granted a residence permit for the purpose of asylum. The applicants’ representative informed the Court that her clients wished to withdraw their application.
COMPLAINTS
The applicants originally complained that their expulsion to Colombia would expose them to a real risk of being subjected to treatment in breach of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention. Under Article 13 of the Convention they further complained about an alleged lack of effectiveness of domestic remedies.
THE LAW
The applicants complained that a forced return to Colombia would violate their rights under Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention and that the domestic proceedings had violated their rights under Article 13. However, the Court notes that the applicants have now been granted a residence permit for the purpose of asylum in the Netherlands, that they are thus no longer at risk of being expelled and that, for this reason, they do not intend to pursue their application. In these circumstances, and having regard to Article 37 § 1 (a) and (b) of the Convention, the Court is of the opinion that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the examination of the application to be continued. Accordingly, it is appropriate to discontinue the application of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention and Rule 39 of the Rules of Court and to strike the case out the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Santiago QuesadaBoštjan M. Zupančič
RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy