CAT/C/20/D/48/1996 page 4 4.2 Pursuant to article 22, paragraph 1, of the Convention, the Committee may consider a communication from an individual who claims to be a victim of a State Party's violation of a provision of the Convention, providing the individual is subject to that State's jurisdiction and the State has declared that it recognizes the Committee's competence under article 22. 4.3 The Committee notes that the author is no longer in Switzerland and that he has applied for asylum in Ireland, where he has been given a residence permit pending the outcome of the asylum proceedings. Article 3 of the Convention prohibits return (refoulement) of a person by a State Party to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that the individual may be subjected to torture. In the case in question, the author, being legally present in the territory of another State, cannot be returned by Switzerland; consequently, article 3 of the Convention does not apply. Consideration of the communication having become irrelevant, the Committee finds the communication inadmissible. 5. Accordingly, the Committee decides: (a) That the communication is inadmissible; (b) That this decision shall be communicated to the applicant's counsel and to the State Party. [Done in French (original version) and translated into English, Russian and Spanish.] -----