Chapter 7 – Non-refoulement Relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: Article 3 1. No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. 2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. 25. The Convention requires States parties to incorporate the principle of non-refoulement Under the Convention, a State party has an explicit duty not to remove an individual from its territory where there are “substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” 154 As a jus cogens norm of international law, the prohibition on refoulement to torture is also applicable to all States regardless of their ratification or accession to the UNCAT. Non-refoulement is one of the strongest ways a State can prevent torture from occurring: by not acting to remove a person at risk of torture to another country. The prohibition against refoulement applies to both the proposed country of immediate removal, as well as to any other country to which the person may be subsequently removed.155 The prohibition on refoulement is not only a substantive norm, requiring all measures to be taken to prevent refoulement, it also carries procedural requirements, not least that the individual is entitled to a fair hearing regarding their proposed removal, per article 3(2). Article 3(2) of the Convention is a starting point, stating that the competent authorities determining whether removal can take place shall take into account all relevant considerations, including where applicable “the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.” The Committee’s reference source on non-refoulement is General Comment N°1, which guides the determination of how a State can ensure that it does not fall foul Article 3 of the UNCAT. 154 CAT, General Comment N°1: Implementation of Article 3 of the Convention on the context of article 22 (16 September 1998, UN Doc. A/53/44, annex IX, § 2 [Please note that, at the time of drafting, the Committee is currently developing a General Comment on article 3]. See also ICCPR General Comment 31 (Eightieth Session, 2004): Article 2: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, UN Doc. A/59/40 (2004) 175, § 12. 155 47