C.C.P.R., A.B. and B.D. v. Poland, 21 July 2022, Comm. no. 3017/2017

The systemic and consistent pushbacks at the Polish borders… This time before the UN Human Rights Committee

Abstract

In the case of A.B. and B.D. v. Poland, the Human Rights Committee had to pronounce itself for the first time on the practice of “pushbacks” perpetrated at least since 2016 by Polish border guards at the Polish-Belarus border and which has been characterized as systemic and consistent. The Committee found that Poland violated articles 7 and 13 of the ICCPR, read alone and in conjunction with article 2(3) ICCPR. In particular, and like the ECtHR in similar cases, the Committee emphasized that persons in need of international protection who inform border guards of their requests for asylum have a right to see their claims thoroughly and individually assessed by the competent authorities, following a procedure demonstrating a sufficient degree of overall fairness. Articles 7 and 13 of the ICCPR imply a right to access asylum procedures and a correlative States’ obligation to properly assess the risks invoked.