Universal-MigrationHRlaw-PG-no-6-Publications-PractitionersGuide-2014-eng

MIGRATION AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW | 95
should give due consideration to such applications. In their decision,
the best interest of the children concerned shall be a primary consideration”.
229
Dependency on a principal resident permit holder may also hinder the
access of the migrant to an effective remedy to prevent, or to seek
reparation for, of a human rights violation committed by their sponsor,
relative or spouse. This is problematic, as States may infringe their
obligation to provide individuals with an effective remedy for human
rights violations (see, Chapter 2, Section 4). On the particular situation
of women migrant victims of violence, the Committee of Ministers of
the Council of Europe has recommended that States “ensure that all
services and legal remedies available for victims of domestic violence
are provided to immigrant women upon their request” 230 and that they
should “consider, where needed, granting immigrant women who have
been/are victims of domestic violence an independent right to residence
in order to enable them to leave their violent husbands without having
to leave the host country”. 231
Box 8. Mandatory residence assignment for refugees
cannot impair their family life
The European Court of Human Rights has recently held that
an asylum programme which assigns mandatory residence in
one particular region of the country, thereby making very difficult
the maintenance of family links between two refugees,
is in breach of their right to family life under Article 8 ECHR,
as no legitimate reason of equitable distribution of refugees
within the country for economic reason can override the refugees’
right to family life. The case originated in the practice of
Switzerland to assign refugees to a particular canton outside
of which they cannot reside. 232
4. Victims of Trafficking
Each year many people are trafficked by organisations that by use of
force or other forms of coercion, deception or abuse, gain control over
them and arrange their transfer abroad, for various exploitative purpos-
229 Recommendation Rec(2002)4, CMCE, op. cit., fn. 179, Article III.
230 Recommendation Rec(2002)5, CMCE, op. cit., fn. 79, Article 24.
231 Ibid., Article 59.
232 Mengesha Kimfe v. Switzerland, ECtHR, Application No. 24404/05, Judgment of 29 July
2010.