An Ivory Coast national requested international protection in France, claiming that she feared her brother-in-law due to the threats she received from him and also the society as a whole due to her opposition to FGM/C. By decision of 21 June 2022, the Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) rejected the request for international protection. After this decision, on 24 June 2022, the applicant gave birth to a daughter and on 4 August 2022 she requested the OFPRA to provide international protection for her daughter on account of her opposition to FGM/C and her refusal to subject her daughter to this practice. By email of 17 February 2023, the OFPRA replied that the request for the child was attached informatically to that of the mother, without being considered as submitted, thus refusing to examine the request of the child. The woman appealed on 27 February 2023 against these two decisions and she argued for her daughter that if sent back to the Ivory Coast she would be submitted to FGM/C, while also adding these fears in support of her own appeal.

Regarding the mother, the court noted that the applicant’s account related to her brother-in-law lacked credibility and were insufficiently detailed to be considered as established. In addition, the court noted that the applicant did not explain why she could not request the assistance of authorities. The court added that the practice of FGM/C in Ivory Coast did not entail the recognition of the parents of these girls as a particular social group that personally risked being exposed to persecution on account of their opposition to the practice.

Regarding the child, the court referred to its previous judgment in the case of N.S. of 7 March 2023, in case no 22031440. The court noted that after the lodging of an application for international protection, a parent must inform the OFPRA or the CNDA, if a decision was not pronounced yet by them, about the entry or birth of their child in France, as in such a case the decision that will be pronounced by the OFPRA or the CNDA will be applicable to the child as well, unless the person concerned proves that the person who made the request was not entitled to make it on his/her behalf. The court further noted that the OFPRA is under the obligation to examine the application of the child submitted by the parents even when their own application is being examined, before the Office or the CNDA, and this does not preclude parents from asserting their child’s fears in support of their own appeal. Finally, the court ruled that since the request of the child was not examined by the OFPRA, the decision of 17 February 2023 should be annulled, and the case sent back to the OFPRA for re-examination concerning the risk of being exposed to FGM/C in the Ivory Coast.