Two applicants of Ukrainian nationality, from the oblast of Sumy, requested the re-examination of their requests for international protection in France, after the CNDA had dismissed their requests. By decisions of 8 February 2022, the OFPRA rejected their requests for re-examination and the applicants appealed these decisions before the CNDA. They had argued that they were subjected to persecution in their country of origin following a car accident.
The court first noted that the risk of persecution as alleged by the applicants was not proven. The court then examined the situation in the oblast of Sumy, where the applicants resided, in the North of Ukraine.
The court observed that there were significant figures relating to security incidents, particularly during the first phase of the conflict. The court cited ACLED data, according to which, as of 13 January 2023, the oblast had 1,455 security incidents since the start of hostilities, the town of Sumy was attacked and invaded on 24 February 2022 by Russian troops, who engaged in violent urban fighting with Ukrainian soldiers and militiamen, triggering a humanitarian situation. The court also made reference to aerial bombardments causing 21 deaths among the civilian population, including two children. The court further looked at information regarding the International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, which affirmed that crimes of war had been committed in the country. The court also highlighted a UN report entitled “Killings of civilians: summary executions and attacks on individual civilians in Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions in the context of the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine", which detailed the murders committed by Russian troops against civilians, victims of attacks or summary executions, between 24 February and 6 April 2022 and noted that according to the final report, as of 31 October 2022, the UN recorded the violent deaths of 441 civilians, including 341 men, 72 women, 20 boys and 8 girls, in the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy during the first six weeks of the Russian invasion, figures which could be considerably higher according to the authors of the report. The court also noted an information note from the NGO Human Rights Watch, “Background Briefing on Landmine Use in Ukraine”, which reported that Russian forces used at least seven types of antipersonnel mines in at least four regions of Ukraine, including Sumy.
The court further referred to surveys conducted by IOM in Ukraine between 16 March and 23 August 2022, which noted that internal movements of people from the macro-regions of the North, the city of Kyiv and the Center have steadily decreased, contrary to the trend observed in the Eastern macro-region, where the number of people displaced increased by 77%. IOM had concluded that as of 23 August 2022, a high number of people returning home was observed in the Northern macro-region (34%), like the city of Kyiv (20%). The situation nevertheless remained volatile, with the local administration of Sumy having reported more than a hundred bombings and strikes without civilian casualties.
From all these aspects, the CNDA concluded that it was not necessary to consider that the international armed conflict in Ukraine generated, as of the date of this decision, in the Sumy Oblast, a situation of indiscriminate violence that would reach such a level that there would be serious and proven grounds to believe that each civilian who returned there would be, by their mere presence in this oblast, at real risk of serious threat against life or person.
The court further held that it was up to the applicants who were nationals of these oblasts to provide all elements relating to their personal situation allowing them to believe that they would run a risk for their life or their person within the meaning of the provisions of the CESEDA.
In this case, the applicants were granted subsidiary protection.