CAT/C/56/D/591/2014
complainant applied for leave to appeal the Circuit Court’s negative decision before the
Federal Court of Australia, but his request was denied on 20 November 2013. On 26
November 2013, the complainant filed a request for ministerial intervention, which was
denied on 6 March 2014. On 17 March 2014, the complainant again requested ministerial
intervention, which was also denied on an unspecified date.
The complaint
3.1
The complainant claims that he will be detained, tortured and killed if deported to
Sri Lanka because he is a young man of Tamil ethnicity and is already wanted by the Sri
Lankan authorities owing to his history of association with the LTTE.
3.2
In addition, the complainant claims that he will run the same risks if deported to
Sri Lanka owing to his status as a failed asylum seeker. He states that, in February 2014,
the Australian Department of Immigration inadvertently published on its website the full
names, nationalities, locations, arrival dates and boat arrival information of about 10,000
asylum seekers. The complainant submits that that has created a further risk for him,
because if the information is accessed by the Sri Lankan Government, he will be further
persecuted.
State party’s observations on admissibility and the merits
4.1
On 15 September 2014, the State party submitted that article 3 of the Convention
provides that States parties have an obligation not to return a person to another State
where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of
being subjected to torture.1 In its views concerning G.R.B. v. Sweden, the Committee
confirmed that the obligation under article 3 is directly linked to the definition of torture
in article 1 of the Convention.2 The Committee also noted that, under the definition of
torture, several elements must exist for an act to constitute torture: the act must cause a
person severe pain or suffering, which may be mental or physical; the act must be
intentionally inflicted on a person or on a third person for the purposes of obtaining
information, extracting a confession, punishment for an act that the person or a third
person allegedly committed, intimidation or coercion, or for any reason based on
discrimination of any kind; and the act must be 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.3
4.2
The State party notes that each case must be assessed on its own facts. Whether
conduct amounts to torture will depend on the nature of the alleged act and the obligation
of non-refoulement is confined to torture and does not extend to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.4 In this connection, the State party submits that the
Committee has retained this distinction in its views. Furthermore, if it is established that
the alleged acts would constitute torture, article 3 also requires that there exist
“substantial grounds for believing” that the author would be in danger of being subjected
to torture. That is, the complainant must be at a “foreseeable, real and personal risk of
1
2
3
4
4
See, for example, communication No. 39/1996, Paez v. Sweden, Views adopted on 28 April 1997,
para. 14.5.
See communication No. 83/1997, G.R.B. v. Sweden, Views adopted on 15 May 1998, para. 6.5; also
the Committee’s general comment No. 1 (1997) on the implementation of article 3 of the Convention
in the context of article 22, para. 1.
See G.R.B. v. Sweden, para. 6.5.
See the Committee’s general comment No. 1, para. 1.