CAT/C/33/D/133/1999
page 5
4.3
According to the State party, such a judicial review could genuinely improve the
complainant’s situation. If a judicial review is accepted, the Federal Court sends the file back to
the body which took the original decision or to another body for reconsideration with a view to
reaching a fresh decision. The review could be conducted without unreasonable delay. The
Federal Court also has authority to order the stay of an expulsion order pending consideration of
an application for judicial review. The applicant must then demonstrate that the application
concerns a serious issue to be settled by the Court, that he would suffer irreparable harm if
no stay was granted, and that the balance of arguments lies in his favour. In this case the
complainant did not submit an appeal, and has thus not exhausted all the effective remedies
available.
4.4
The State party maintains that the procedure provided for by the Convention should not
permit the complainant to escape the consequences of his own negligence and his failure to avail
himself of available domestic remedies. It emphasizes that, even where a person risks inhuman
or degrading treatment in the event of being sent home, he must respect the forms of and
deadlines for domestic procedures before making application to international bodies.
4.5
The State party adds that such a person can also submit an application for a pre-removal
risk assessment. If the application is granted, the individual may be authorized to remain in
Canada.
4.6
The State party asserts that the communication does not meet the minimum requirements
for compatibility with article 22 of the Convention. There are no substantial grounds for
believing that someone is at risk of torture unless it is established that he or she personally will
run such a risk in the State to which he or she will be returned. The Convention requires States
parties to protect persons who are exposed to a foreseeable, real and personal risk of torture. The
State party cites the decision in Aemi v. Switzerland 1 in which the Committee established that
expulsion of the complainant would have the foreseeable consequence of exposing him to a real
and personal risk of torture. The State party also refers to the Committee’s general comment on
the implementation of article 3 of the Convention.2
4.7
As for the human rights situation in Mexico, the State party points out that the situation
has considerably improved since the complainant left, and in this connection refers to a number
of reports from 2001 (Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Special Rapporteur on the
question of torture, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions). It
adds that Mexico is a party to the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights and its first Optional Protocol, besides the American Convention on
Human Rights, the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, and the
Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons.
4.8
The State party refers to the decision by the Refugee Protection Division, which, after
having heard the complainant, concluded that his testimony contained significant gaps. It
remarks that the complainant was vague about his uncle’s rank in the army (which appears to
have undermined his credibility), the unlikely circumstances of his uncle’s desertion, the
submission of a photograph supposedly taken following an assault which shows no injury, and
the implausibility of a false EZLN card being made and given to the complainant, as it has never
been established that the group issues identity cards to its members. According to the State