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Sweden: Celepli appeal admissible

01 May 1993

The Human Rights Committee of the United Nations decided on 19 March that an application by Ismet Celepli under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was admissible (see Statewatch vol 3 no 2). Article 12 protects the freedom of movement on condition that the individual is lawfully within the territory of a state. Mr Celepli was sentenced to municipal arrest which means he cannot leave the area and has to report to the police regularly (this power no longer exists). He is one of eight Kurds sentenced in this way who are under suspicion of being terrorists without any charges or evidence being brought against them. The UN Committee says that his case raises the question whether a person's freedom of movement can be lawfully restricted for reasons of national security without allowing a right of appeal against the decision. The further appeal under Article 13, which states that an alien may only be expelled in accordance with the law was turned down on the grounds that he has never been expelled. Mr Celepli has been denied Swedish citizenship on the grounds that the period of municipal arrest was the same as living abroad.

The Swedish government is currently considering new restrictions on the right of appeal on the granting of citizenship and limiting legal aid for the appellant. These measures are intended to limit the number of refugees granted permission to stay and to bring Sweden in line with the Schengen Agreement.

United Nations Office in Geneva ref no G/SO 215/51 SWED [9] 456/1991.