Judgment concerning Sweden
In the case of D.M. v. Sweden the Court held that there would be a violation of the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment if the deportation order against the applicant was implemented.
The case concerned an order to remove an Afghan national from Sweden. His removal was ordered because he was not entitled to a residence permit in Sweden after several unsuccessful applications for asylum since 2015.
An assessment of whether there was a real risk of ill-treatment had to be made on the basis of all relevant factors, considered cumulatively and against the backdrop of the general situation in the country in question. The national decisions in the applicant’s case had not considered all such relevant factors cumulatively in their risk assessment.
The Court found that, although serious, the general security and human-rights situation in Afghanistan were not sufficient on their own to conclude that any removal to that country would necessarily breach Article 3. The applicant faced heightened risks due to his Hazara ethnicity. He was moreover at risk because he had adapted to a Western way of life in Sweden over the last ten years, especially bearing in mind the current repressive regime in Afghanistan, which punished severely any failure to adhere to the rules and restrictions in place.
The Court concluded that the cumulative effect of his personal circumstances, against the background of the general human-rights situation in Afghanistan, created a real risk of ill-treatment if the applicant were deported.