CAT/C/49/D/417/2010
complainant’s claims and without the opportunity to test the claims at a hearing, it was not
prepared to accept the complainant’s claims that he was a Falun Gong practitioner and had
come to the adverse attention of the Chinese authorities as a result of these activities. The
Tribunal was not satisfied that the complainant was a person to whom Australia had
protection obligations under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.14 On appeal,
the Federal Magistrates Court was not persuaded that the applicant had not attended the
Tribunal hearing as a result of any fraudulent statement of his migration agent. 15
4.13 Although the complainant provided information in the course of his domestic
proceedings and ministerial intervention requests regarding details of past ill-treatment, this
information has been duly assessed by domestic processes. The domestic legal system in
Australia offers a robust process of merits and judicial review to ensure that any error made
by an initial decision maker can be corrected. In this case, the complainant appealed to the
Refugee Review Tribunal, the Federal Magistrates Court and the Federal Court of Australia
and no error was identified. The documents provided by the complainant through
ministerial intervention requests have been considered by the immigration department in
the ministerial intervention assessment of 6 December 2007 as well as in subsequent
assessments. Therefore, the State party submits that no new evidence has been provided in
the complaint to substantiate the complainant’s claims that has not already been considered
in domestic processes.
4.14 Apart from allegations of past ill-treatment, which have been considered by
domestic processes, the complainant’s complaint also does not specify what treatment he
might suffer under article 3 of the Convention; he does not provide any evidence regarding
what form of torture he is likely to suffer in China. The State party therefore submits that
the complainant has failed to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate his allegations
regarding a potential breach of article 3 of the Convention. Therefore his complaint should
be ruled inadmissible.
4.15 Should the Committee find the complainant’s allegations admissible, the State party
submits that there are not substantial grounds to believe that the complainant will be in
danger of being subjected to torture upon return to China. His claims for protection in
Australia have been properly determined according to domestic law. The complainant does
not disclose any information in his complaint that has not already been considered in
domestic processes. He has used a number of opportunities available to him to appeal the
initial Protection Visa decision by the immigration department and no error was identified.
The documents provided by the complainant, including the notice of release from the reeducation through labour camp as well as the photocopy of a medical report dated 28
August 1999, although not provided in relation to the Protection Visa application, have
been duly considered by the immigration department in previous ministerial intervention
requests. The State party submits that there is no credible evidence provided by the
complainant in his complaint to establish that he faces a personal and present danger of
torture, therefore his claims under article 3 of the Convention should be dismissed for lack
of merits.
The complainants’ comments on the State party’s observations
5.1
On 12 January 2012, counsel provided comments on behalf of the complainant. She
submits that she has no further information about what happened to the complainant after
he was removed to China on 1 April 2010.
14
15
Ibid.
SZKPX v. Minister for Immigration and Anor [2007] FMCA 1597, 10 September 2007.
7