The applicant, A.M, acted also as legal representative of her son, M.K.A.H., alleging a violation by Switzerland of the latter’s rights due to a removal from Switzerland and transfer to Bulgaria based on the readmission agreement between the two countries, of 21 November 2008. She also alleged violations regarding her son's right to be heard during the asylum procedure. In fact, the applicant was born in Damascus, in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, managed by Palestinian authorities. He and his family moved to Yelda in Syria where they have been exposed to the effects of the civil war. In 2014 or 2015 his father was arrested by Syrian security forces and he disappeared, so his mother decided to hide with him and to leave the area in July 2017. After a difficult journey, they arrived in Bulgaria where they were detained for 3 days in very poor conditions. On 24 April 2018, they were granted subsidiary protection in Bulgaria and were later moved to an accommodation centre, still overcrowded and with poor conditions. The applicant did not attend school. On 8 August 2018, the applicants submitted an application for international protection in Switzerland. A.M. stated before SEM that she has her brother in Switzerland as only family member, that she lost other relatives in the war and was psychologically exhausted and needed security from her brother. Her son M.K.A.H. did not have the chance to be heard during the proceedings. On 4 September 2018 the Swiss authorities requested the Bulgarian authorities to readmit the applicants based on the abovementioned agreement, request accepted on 7 September 2018. By decision of 25 September 2018, SEM rejected the application based on the fact that they have received protection in Bulgaria. The Federal Administrative Court confirmed the SEM decision by judgement of 30 April 2019, underlying that Bulgaria disposes of medical facilities and the applicant would have access to medical treatment for her psychological problems. A re-examination request was also rejected by both instances.

Before the UNCRC the applicants complained of a risk of being exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment in case of return to Bulgaria and of failure from Swiss authorities to take into consideration the best interests of the child, that the courts did not take into consideration the poor conditions in Bulgaria and the violence against her son there, that he would be traumatised if returned to Bulgaria and that M.K.A.H. was not offered the possibility to be heard during the asylum procedure. ECRE, DRC and AIRE centre submitted third party interventions, also to underline the material reception conditions in Bulgaria

The UNCRC stated that Switzerland failed to consider the best interests of the child in the proceedings, that they did not take into account the severe mental condition of the mother, proved with medical reports, that there was insufficient consideration to the fact that M.K.A.H. was victim of a civil conflict and no personal assessment was done with regard to the conditions the applicant would be exposed to upon return to Bulgaria. The UNCRC also noted that the applicant was not heard in the asylum procedure, and according to Article 12 of the Convention a child has the right to be heard in any judicial or administrative procedure concerning him or her. The UNCRC also noted that the applicant is stateless and Swiss authorities did not seek to take appropriate measures to verify if the applicant would have access to a nationality procedure in Bulgaria. For all these reasons, the UNCRC concluded to a violation of several articles of the Convention and requested Switzerland to re-examine the decision to return the applicants to Bulgaria, to re-examine urgently the asylum application in light of the best interests of the child and the obligation to hear the minor applicant, to take into account the risk for M.K.A.H. to remain stateless while the application for asylum is being reviewed, to offer qualified psychological assistance for the rehabilitation of the applicants. Moreover, the UNCRC ordered Switzerland to take all appropriate measures to prevent future similar violations.