KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Sweden cannot deport an Afghan national, finding that doing so would expose him to a real risk of ill-treatment in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In a unanimous ruling, the Strasbourg-based court determined that deporting the applicant, Mr. D.M., a Hazara from Mazar-e-Sharif, to Afghanistan would breach Article 3 of the convention, which forbids inhuman or degrading treatment.
“The Court concluded that the cumulative effect of the applicant’s personal circumstances, including his Hazara ethnicity, against the background of the general human-rights situation, created a real risk of ill-treatment if he were deported to Afghanistan,” the judgment stated.
Mr. D.M., who arrived in Sweden as a teenager in 2015, had his asylum applications rejected in 2018 and again in 2023. Swedish authorities argued he did not qualify for protection based on the general situation in Afghanistan, his ethnicity, or his adaptation to a Western lifestyle.
The court emphasized that while Afghanistan faces serious security and human rights challenges, these alone are not enough to block deportations. It noted that while Hazaras face discrimination and targeted attacks, it was “not persuaded” that they are systematically exposed to treatment breaching Article 3.
However, the court criticized Swedish authorities for failing to conduct a full, cumulative assessment of D.M.’s individual circumstances. His Hazara ethnicity, decade-long integration into Swedish society, and personal behaviors that could be considered violations of religious or moral norms under Taliban rule all contributed to a heightened risk of ill-treatment.
“An assessment of whether there was a real risk of ill-treatment had to be made based on all relevant factors, considered cumulatively and against the backdrop of the general situation in the country in question,” it said. “The national decisions in the applicant’s case had not considered all such relevant factors cumulatively in their risk assessment.”
As a result, the court ordered interim measures to block D.M.’s deportation, which will remain in effect until the final ruling is issued.
