Two Congolese Girls in Strasbourg

Abstract

The expulsion of the single minor Francine Nsona from the Netherlands to Zaire was deemed not te be in violation of Article 3 ECHR, while the expulsion of the equally single minor Kaniki Mitunga from Belgium to what in the meanwhile had become Congo was held to be contrary to Article 3 ECHR. This paper analyses the argumentative manoeuvres deployed by the European Court of Human Rights to apply the same norm to similar situations with divergent outcomes.

Keywords: migration law, european convention on human rights, inhuman treatment, legal theory