Issues and proceedings before the Committee 6.1Before considering any claims contained in a communication, the Committee against Torture must decide whether or not it is admissible under article 22 of the Convention. In this respect the Committee has ascertained, as it is required to do under article 22, paragraph 5 (a), of the Convention, that the same matter has not been and is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. The Committee also notes that the State party has not contested the admissibility of the communication. As the Committee sees no further obstacles to admissibility, it declares the communication admissible and proceeds immediately to the consideration of the merits. 6.2The Committee must decide whether the forced return of the complainant to Sri Lanka would violate the State party’s obligation, under article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention, not to expel or return (refouler) an individual to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. In order to reach its conclusion, the Committee must take into account all relevant considerations, including the existence, in the State concerned, of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. The aim, however, is to determine whether the individual concerned would personally risk torture in the country to which he or she would return. It follows that the existence of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights in a country does not as such constitute sufficient grounds for determining whether the particular person would be in danger of being subjected to torture upon his return to that country; additional grounds must be adduced to show that the individual concerned would be personally at risk. Conversely, the absence of a consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights does not mean that a person cannot be considered to be in danger of being subjected to torture in his or her specific circumstances. 6.3With respect to the general human rights situation in Sri Lanka, the Committee recalls that, in its concluding observations on the initial report of Sri Lanka, it expressed grave concern about “information on serious violations of the Convention, particularly regarding torture linked with disappearances”.g The Committee also notes from recent reports on the human rights situation in Sri Lankah that, although efforts have been made to eradicate torture, instances of torture continue to be reported, and that complaints of torture are often not dealt with effectively by police, magistrates and doctors. However, the Committee equally notes the ongoing peace process in Sri Lanka which led to the conclusion of the ceasefire agreement between the Government and LTTE of February 2002 and the - albeit currently interrupted - negotiations between the parties to the conflict which have taken place since. The Committee further recalls that, on the basis of the proceedings concerning its inquiry on Sri Lanka under article 20 of the Convention, it concluded that the practice of torture is not systematic in the State party.i The Committee finally notes that a large number of Tamil refugees returned to Sri Lanka in 2001 and 2002. 6.4With regard to the complainant’s claim that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture by LTTE for having left the LTTE-controlled area of Sri Lanka without express permission to do so and without designating someone to vouch for him, the Committee recalls that the State party’s obligation to refrain from forcibly returning a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture is directly linked to the definition of torture as found in article 1 of the Convention. For the purposes of the Convention, according to article 1, “the term ‘torture’ means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity”. The Committee observes that the issue of whether the State party has an obligation to refrain from expelling a person who might risk pain or suffering inflicted by a non-governmental entity, without the consent or acquiescence of the Government, falls outside the scope of article 3 of the Convention, unless the non-governmental entity occupies and exercises quasi-governmental authority over the territory to which the complainant would be returned.j Since the complainant can be returned to territory other than that under the control of LTTE, the issue, on which he bases part of his claim, that he would suffer retribution from LTTE upon his return to Sri Lanka cannot be considered by the Committee. 6.5With respect to the risk that the complainant might be subjected to torture at the hands of State agents upon return to Sri Lanka, the Committee has noted the complainant’s claim that he is at high personal risk owing to his previous activities as a karate teacher, that he has allegedly already been severely maltreated by soldiers of the Sri Lankan army, and that he bears scars which the authorities would likely assume to have been caused by fighting for LTTE. It has considered the claim that, because of the failure by IND to take a decision on the complainant’s refugee application within the prescribed time limit, the complainant was precluded from filing an objection regarding the merits of the IND final decision, dated 20 May 1999. The Committee has further noted that IND took this decision before BMA gave its advice on the complainant’s medical condition. Similarly, the Committee has noted the attention drawn by the State party to a number of inconsistencies and contradictions in the complainant’s account which are said to cast doubt on the complainant’s credibility and the veracity of his allegations. 6.6The Committee notes that the medical evidence submitted by the complainant confirms physical as well as psychological symptoms which might be attributed to his alleged maltreatment at the hand of the Sri Lankan army. However, the Committee observes that, even if the complainant’s allegation that he was severely tortured during his detention at the Trincomalee military camp in 1996 were sufficiently substantiated, these alleged acts of torture did not occur in the recent past. 6.7In the Committee’s view, the complainant has not demonstrated any other circumstances, other than the fact that he worked as a karate teacher in Jaffna until 1996 and the presence of scars on his body, which would appear to make him particularly vulnerable to the risk of torture if he were to be returned to Sri Lanka. Moreover, the Committee again notes that the positive development of the peace negotiations between the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE and the implementation of the peace process under way give reason to believe that a person in the situation of the complainant would not be under such risk upon return to Sri Lanka. The Committee therefore finds that the complainant has not provided sufficient evidence for substantiating that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture were he to be returned to Sri Lanka, and that such danger is present and personal.