The applicant, a national of Mauritania who belongs to the Peul people, entered Germany in 2016 and applied for asylum on 16 December 2016. She claimed that if returned to Mauritania she would face persecution because of her commitment to the "IRA", an anti-slavery organization. The applicant claimed that she belonged to a slave tribe, had no schooling and that as a child she was “given” to her aunt. After her aunt's death in 2012, the applicant returned to her father in Nouakchott and in 2014, he raped her because she wanted to marry a man who also belongs to a slave tribe. Her father died later on and from 2014 to 2016 the applicant lived with a couple who were her friends and who got her involved in the anti-slavery organization "IRA" in Mauritania.

By decision of 16 April 2018, the Federal Office rejected the application for asylum, holding that neither the alleged membership in the “IRA” nor the conflict with her brother, due to ther father's death, justified the granting of protection status. It further mentioned that the humanitarian conditions in Mauritania did not lead to the assumption that the deportation of the complainant would have violated Article 3 ECHR and that her economic subsistence is secured as she is healthy, educated and can pursue a professional activity. The applicant challenged the decision but her appeals were unsuccessful. The applicant reached the Federal Constitutional Court.

The Court found the appeal to be well founded and held that the decisions of the Administrative Court and the Higher Administrative Court are based on violations of fundamental rights and on a violation of her right to a hearing and to an effective legal protection. They had failed to consider the evidence brought by the applicant regarding the difficulties in securing a livelihood given her status of former slave tribe member. The evidence brought by the applicant showed that extreme poverty and exclusion from society still affects former slave women in Mauritania.

The case was referred back to the Greifswald Administrative Court for a new decision.