Unsplash/Tamara Menzi Stockholm, capital of Sweden. UN Committee: Sweden violated the rights of a child with disabilities by deporting him to Albania Human Rights
Sweden violated the rights of a severely disabled Albanian child by deporting him to Albania twice without providing him with the necessary medical care. Experts from the UN Human Rights Committee came to this conclusion.
They released their findings Monday after reviewing a complaint on behalf of an Albanian boy identified in public documents by the initials E.B. He has been diagnosed with several disorders and illnesses, including autism, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus and epilepsy.
The boy’s family came to Sweden in 2012 seeking protection and medical care, but after years of unsuccessful asylum claims and appeals, they were deported to Albania in 2016, when he was 10, and again in 2019, when he was 14.
“Before deporting a child with severe and complex illness disabilities and life-threatening illnesses, states must conduct a thorough individual assessment and ensure that the necessary treatment and medications will be available in the receiving country,” said Wafaa Bassim, Vice-Chair of the Committee. Experts remind that states should not deport or expel asylum seekers if there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is a real risk of irreparable harm to them in the country to which they are sent. They emphasized that people with disabilities have the right to special protections and that all decisions must be made with the best interests of the child in mind.
Members of the Committee noted that the Swedish migration authorities did not properly check the medical certificates submitted by the boy’s family during the proceedings. These certificates indicated that his life depended on regular observation by specialists. The boy also constantly requires a shunt. In Albania, he could not receive the medical care he needed.
After the family was deported in 2016, a hospital in Tirana refused to treat the boy because his needs were considered “too complex.” After his second deportation in 2019, he had to rely on epilepsy drugs sent to him from Sweden through an NGO.
“In a case as serious as E.B.’s, states must do more than just carry out standard checks,” Bassim said. Before deportation, she noted, authorities should try to understand whether a person will have access to the necessary medical care and medications.
Because the Swedish authorities were not convinced of this, they violated the boy’s right to life, as well as his right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Because E.B. deportation was again ordered, the Committee asked Sweden to reconsider the family’s application for asylum or residence in the light of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.