CCPR/C/125/D/2498/2014 under article 24 (1). The Optional Protocol entered into force for the State party on 11 March 1979. The author is represented by counsel, W.G. Fischer. Factual background 2.1 In 2000, at the age of 11, the author fled with her family from Uzbekistan to the Netherlands. On 18 November 2000, the author’s parents and brother applied for asylum, including on behalf of the author. On 6 March 2002, the State Secretary of Justice of the Netherlands denied the application. Appeals against this decision were declared unfounded by the District Court of The Hague on 12 October 2004, and then by the Administrative High Court on 9 March 2005. 2.2 The author and her family subsequently left for Norway and applied for asylum there. Shortly thereafter, they were returned to the Netherlands. On 18 September 2006, the author applied in her own name for asylum in the Netherlands. On 19 September 2006 and 4 January 2007, she was interviewed by the Immigration Service. On 15 May 2008, Y was born. On 3 July 2008, the State Secretary of Justice denied the author’s asylum application. In 2009, the District Court of The Hague rejected her appeal as unfounded, and the author did not appeal further. 2.3 On 24 March 2009, the State Secretary of Justice denied the author’s application for relief under the Ranov amnesty scheme, which was set up to settle the legacy of the former Aliens Act. However, on 5 February 2010, the District Court of The Hague deemed that the author’s application was well founded and annulled the State Secretary’s decision. As a result, the author was permitted to stay in the Netherlands pending the appeal by the State Secretary of Justice against the District Court’s decision. On 12 November 2010, the Council of State annulled the decision of the District Court. 2.4 On an unspecified date, the author rented accommodation in The Hague, which was paid for by third parties. Initially, she lived alone, but her parents and brother joined her following their eviction from an asylum centre. Neither the author nor her family members had a work permit or access to social benefits, due to a law establishing the so-called linkage principle. Under this principle, access to social services is contingent upon possession of a residence permit. The author and her family depended on others for food, housing and clothing. 2.5 On 14 April 2009, the author received an official notification that she had lost her Uzbek citizenship because she had not registered with the Uzbek Embassy within five years of leaving Uzbekistan. 1 The author attempted to leave the Netherlands and return to Uzbekistan, with the assistance of the Repatriation and Departure Service of the Netherlands. However, the authorities of Uzbekistan refused to issue the author a certificate of return or travel documents. The author maintains that the Repatriation and Departure Service was notified of the author’s loss of Uzbek nationality in October 2009. 2.6 In 2011 and 2012, the author submitted various applications for housing, social and child benefits. Specifically, on 14 June 2011, she applied to the municipality of The Hague for shelter and social assistance. Her applications were rejected in July 2011, and the District Court rejected the author’s appeal on 18 July 2012. The author’s appeal regarding her application for shelter was pending before the Administrative High Court at the time the present communication was submitted. In addition, on 3 April 2014, the author applied to the State Secretary for shelter. On 22 April 2015, this application was denied, and on 25 January and 23 March 2016, the author’s subsequent appeals were deemed to be ill-founded. In the same month of March 2016, however, the author and her family were offered shelter by the State Secretary, but it only has facilities that are necessary. 2.7 The author applied to the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers for shelter and social assistance on 14 June 2011. That application was denied and, on 19 December 2012, the administrative jurisdiction division of the Council of State upheld the 1 2 The author provides certificates from the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Belgium dated 14 April 2009, 25 May 2011, 14 March 2012 and 12 July 2013. The certificates state that the author lost her Uzbek nationality because she had not lived in Uzbekistan since 2000 and was not registered at the Uzbek Embassy. In view of that, she could not be granted an Uzbek passport or a return visa.